Less Than Angelic
by Quick Quotes
Summary: A story set in the Marauder Era. This story follows the life of Angelina Lestrange, a young witch from a dark family, as she struggles through her first year at Hogwarts dealing with prejudices, disappointments, enemies, and making friends.
1. Chapter 1

**Trouble on the Train**  
Chapter One

Angelina Lestrange looked out the window at the crowded platform full of parents waving a tearful good-bye to their children. Her older brother, Rodolphus, had been responsible for seeing that she made the train, but as soon as they had passed through the barrier, he had taken off to go swap Chocolate Frog cards with his friends. Wouldn't he be surprised when he found his prized card, Alberic Grunnion, missing? Angelina smirked to herself and pulled the card Rodolphus had spent the summer goggling at out of her pocket. She didn't collect cards herself, and she wondered over the appeal as she stared down at the blank frame. She briefly thought about shredding the thing, but changed her mind, as it would be more practical to sell it. However, the card's fate was deferred for a later time, as at that moment the compartment door slid open and distracted Angelina. Slipping the card back into her pocket, Angelina lifted her gaze to the scrawny boy who had just entered.

His sand-blond hair was slightly disheveled as if a departing parent had recently ruffled it affectionately. He bore other signs of having just received aloving good-bye, among which the most obvious was a slight smudge on his cheek where his mother must have kissed him, leaving a trace of pink lipstick on his freckled face. Without greeting her, he slipped into the seat kitty-corner to Angelina and proceeded to stare at his feet.

The silence continued as the train departed the station. Even when the landscape had changed into rolling hills and farmland neither had said a word; in fact, the sandy-haired boy had not even looked up from his shoes. The only part of him Angelina could see was a mop of shaggy blond hair, clean black robes of medium quality, and the hand—his right—that was resting on his knee. She stared at the hand as if it would some how tell her about her mysterious companion, but all it showed was a long scar that vanished under his sleeve. Angelina briefly wondered how he had acquired such a nasty scar, but soon dismissed it as the result of playing outside.

Angelina tried not to fidget, but could not help nervously fingering her wand. She wanted to say something to the boy but could not quite think of what. "Are you a Mudblood?" just didn't sound like the right thing to say, yet how else was she suppose to find out? And if she did not find out, how was she supposed to know if she should talk to him or not? And if she didn't talk to him, how was she to find out if she _should_ talk to him?

Oh, she simply loathed meeting new people! Angelina never knew quite what to say. She willed her mind to think of something witty with which to break the oppressive silence but the more she thought, the harder it became to think of anything, and the longer the silence stretched, the greater the imperative to say something brilliant when she did speak became.

Finally after much internal debate, she spoke.

"Lestrange."

The word came out a little strangled, but the boy obviously still heard her as he glanced up fearfully.

"Pardon?" he half-whispered in a shaky voice.

"Angelina Lestrange," Angelina stated, her voice stronger this time. More confident. She could feel the bounds of shyness loosening, freeing her tongue.

The boy across the compartment, however, still looked utterly consumed by fear. He stared blankly back at Angelina as if he expected the words to be curses instead of her name.

"Angelina Lestrange," she repeated again, then added, "Traditionally, you now offer your name."

She felt a surge of doubt. Maybe she had done something wrong. Maybe that was why he was looking at her so oddly.

"Oh," the boy gasped, blushing, his sandy hair falling in his face as he glanced downward. "Remus. Remus Lupin."

At those simple words Angelina felt a surge of hope. Lupin. How many letters bearing that surname had she removed from incoming owls?

"Is your father Romulus?" she questioned breathlessly. Oh it would be too easy if he turned out to be a Pureblood.

"No," the boy, Remus, said slowly, looking at her questioningly.

Angelina could feel her heart dropping.

"He's my uncle," he finished, and Angelina's heart leaped again. "Why?" Remus asked suspiciously, looking frightened again as if she was about to discover his deepest secret.

He sure was a fearful flobberworm.

"He and my mother worked together," Angelina explained and the boy's fear once again melted from his face. In fact he even smiled. Taking heart, Angelina continued boldly, "They were sort of friends. Maybe we can be too? I'm Lena, by the way. No one but my father calls me Angelina."

"Yeah," Remus said excitedly. "Uh, I don't have a nickname."

"That's fine," Angelina said laughing. Then an awful thought struck her. What if his parents weren't Purebloods after all? What if one was a Muggle?

"Uh, what are your parent's jobs?" Angelina asked politely, trying to sound friendly rather than accusing.

"Oh, they both work for the Ministry. Nothing interesting. Not like Uncle Romulus. Does your mum invent charms too?" Remus asked excitedly.

Angelina felt her last bit of uneasiness slip away. His parents were wizards.

"She was interested in experimental magic," Angelina replied vaguely.

"So, has your mum invented anything interesting? Uncle Romulus invented a special cheering charm. Some say it's better than any drug! The Ministry even had to restrict its uses. Can you believe that?"

"Hum," Angelina murmured. She had, of course, read about the Loopy Lupin Charm, though she hardly thought it complex magic. Wanting to change the subject, Angelina intended to ask if Remus had read a book Angelina had found particularly interesting involving the composition of spells, the compartment door flew open with a bang.

"I don't care what you say," a girl with blood red hair ranted as she practically charged into the compartment. "It still doesn't . . ."

She trailed off as she noticed Angelina and Remus.

"Oh, sorry. We didn't know anyone was in here," she said in explanation. "You don't mind, do you?"

Remus Lupin was once again over come with shyness, and seemed to be sinking back into his corner, so Angelina decided it was going to be up to her to respond.

"Sure," she assented, a little grudgingly but there wasn't really another option as the girl already seemed to have decided it was all right to come in and was moving to the seat next to Angelina.

"I'm Lily Evans," the red haired girl introduced herself as she sat down. "This is Severus – he used to be my best friend."

Lily's words drew attention to the boy standing slouched in the doorway. He didn't make any sign of acknowledgement as he slid the door shut behind him and slinked, shoulders stooped, into the compartment. He skulked over to the remaining seat by the window directly in front of Angelina, much like a nocturnal animal that had been forced to come out and face the light of day. His pasty skin certainly looked like it could do with a bit of sun.

Lily, on the other hand, was nicely tanned with a few freckles sprinkled over the bridge of her nose. Her eyes sparkled charmingly as she looked enquiringly at Angelina and Remus. Angelina remembered the words she had earlier spoken to Remus, "Traditionally, you now offer your name." But this girl seemed much too polite to say such a thing, and merely smiled to encourage them to talk.

"I'm Angelina Lestrange, and this is Remus Lupin."

"Lupin!" The girl cried excitedly. "Are you related to Romulus Lupin of the Looney Lupin Charm? I've read all about him in _Charming Charmers_."

With that, the two launched into a long discussion about Romulus Lupin, leaving Angelina and Severus sitting awkwardly in silence. Once again Angelina felt her throat closing and her tongue growing awkward in her mouth.

Angelina's piercing gaze traveled over her new companion. She tried to catch his eyes, to see what he was thinking, but he kept them oddly averted. All she was left with to judge him by was his general appearance, which was not favorable. She saw a dark-eyed, brooding face framed by black hair that was too thin to be grown as long as it was without looking ratty. Despite his decidedly unattractive face, there was a certain air about him like that of the stately impersonal air of a royal child – he was obviously very taken with himself. Angelina would have been tempted to jinx that self-satisfied expression off his face if it weren't for the capable way his hand seemed to hold his wand. She'd have to watch this one, she decided; his spindly frame was deceiving. She would bet he knew some curses just as nasty as his unkempt hair.

On the other side of the compartment an equally thorough inspection of Angelina was taking place through half-lidded eyes. She was definitely one of those rich Purebloods; her robes practically screamed custom-made. Behind that doll's face lurked a piranha, and at the slightest hint of Muggle blood, her teeth would shred him to pieces. It was hard to believe the tiny little girl across from him was really capable of anything more serious than a Bat-Bogey Hex. She reminded him of a porcelain doll he'd once seen in a toy store: her curly black hair falling in ringlets around a porcelain white face, her bright red glazed lips in sharp contrast. It was only the cold grey eyes that levelly appraised him, taking in his ragged robes, which hinted at the truth of his mother's warnings.

Most likely she was no stranger to the Dark Arts; Pureblood families made sure that their children were well acquainted with such things long before their time at Hogwarts. It was fed to them with their mothers' milk. The children of Purebloods grew up with a wand practically attached to their hand. Of course, some families abided by the rules against underage magic, but the older families thought themselves above such plebian restraints. By the time the Purebloods entered Hogwarts, their magical knowledge was way above that of most of the Muggle-borns, causing unfair advantages, according to some. Currently, the Wizengamot was in the middle of a trial to decide if regulations needed to be tightened. But in the mean time, Severus wasn't going to fall prey to the Purebloods. He'd studied long and hard and could take whatever any of them threw at him; just let them try. Still, he thought, it wouldn't hurt to try to be on their side; if he played his cards right, they might not ever know about his father.

"Snape," the boy said finally.

"Lestrange."

There was a strained silence between the two of them as Lily and Remus happily chattered on about the miracles of Florien Fortiscules' ice cream; again Angelina tried to catch Severus' eyes. Again they shifted away. He was good. Angelina could not remember her father mentioning the surname "Snape" as an acceptable wizarding name. The boy's robes were certainly second-hand, but that really didn't signify anything. Many Pureblood wizards lived in genteel poverty because they were too proud to degrade themselves by working. As for his surname, Angelina hadn't been paying much attention to her father. She now wished she had.

He and Lily Evans seemed to be friends, which hinted at both being from Wizarding families as few Mudbloods already had magic friend before Hogwarts. They might have met on the train, she supposed although, that seemed doubtful judging by the girl's earlier statement that he was her former best friend. It was hardly likely they had become best friends and then estranged all in the course of an hour.

"So what house do you want to be in?" Angelina finally voiced. If the boy didn't say Slytherin, she could always shun him for the rest of the ride.

"Slytherin," the boy responded without raising his eyes from the floor.

"Oh, so you have family that was in Slytherin?" she asked, oh-so-causally.

"Yeah," the boy replied.

"Me too," Angelina gushed in relief. Visibly relaxing, Angelina smiled at the boy.

"You want to be in Slytherin?" Lily asked, emerging from her conversation with Remus to glance curiously as Angelina.

"Yes, of course," Angelina said dismissively. "You don't?"

"Uh," Lily said looking confused, "I'm not sure. What about you Remus? Do you want to be in Slytherin?"

The boy's face looked cloudy again. "I'll probably be sorted there," he grumbled glumly.

"Well, I definitely want to be," Severus asserted.

"We know that," Lily bit out. Her anger over whatever Severus had done was still apparent.

The whole compartment fell into a tense silence. Angelina and Lupin exchanged nervous glances while Lily glared daggers at Severus. The greasy-haired boy averted his gaze to stare down at Angelina's feet, where a small grey kitten was emerging from under the seat.

"What's your kitten's name?" Severus asked to break the silence, pointing at the cat that was now rubbing itself affectionately against the girl's leg.

"Chloe, but she's not a kitten. I've had her as long as I can remember."

"Oh, how old are you?"

"I'm eleven. My birthday's March 22nd."

"I'm also born in March!" Remus exclaimed excitedly.

"Mine's January 9th. I'll be turning twelve," Severus boasted.

"My brother's in fifth year," Angelina said smugly.

"Slytherin?" Lily asked.

"What else? Everyone in my family who's gone to Hogwarts has always been in Slytherin. Hasn't yours?"

"No," Lily admitted quietly. "I'm a Muggle-born."

"Oh," Angelina responded taken aback. "What about you?" she questioned, turning her gaze to Severus

"My mum was Slytherin, but my father didn't go to Hogwarts."

"Oh, yes. My oldest brother, Rabastan, he goes to Durmstrang. Mother wanted to send me to Beauxbatons but…" here Angelina trailed off. "Well, I moved back to England to live with my father."

"Where did you live before?" Remus asked interested.

"My mother and I lived in Paris."

"Why?" Severus asked, curious.

"France is nicer than England," Angelina said haughtily.

"Why's it nicer?" Lily questioned, nettled. She had noted the way Angelina's eyes had become dismissive when she had mentioned she was a Muggle-born. She had a feeling Severus had not been all together truthful when he'd said it did not matter if you were Muggle-born.

"It's warmer and not nearly as shabby and dreary," Angelina retaliated, as if this was something Lily was personally responsible for.

"How do you know, if you live in France?"

"I visit my father and brothers on holidays—they live here. Now I'm living with them. Where are you from Remus?" Angelina asked, trying to dismiss the subject.

Lily ignored her and asked, "Won't your mum get lonely in boring old Paris all by herself?"

"No, she's dead," Angelina coldly revealed.

The three other occupants of the compartment looked distinctly uncomfortable, but the awkward moment was cut short when the door slid open. Angelina's cat jumped up and slipped out of the compartment without a backward glance just as a young witch wearing too much makeup peeked into the compartment.

"Snacks?"

Remus had reached into his robes and pulled out a sandwich. He had handed one half to Lily.

Angelina rose to leave. Noticing that Severus remained in his seat, she whispered conspiratorially, "Come on. I'll nick us something."

The sallow faced boy grinned in reply, and rose to follow her out to the cart. Unfortunately, as they neared the food, Severus bumped into someone exiting one of the other compartments.

"Sorry!" the two boys echoed.

However, as they stood they looked at each other and recognition dawned.

"You!" Snape cried.

"James Potter at your service," the boy said, giving a comical bow and winking at Angelina. "I'm a brave and gallant Gryffindor-to-be. Rescuing fair maidens such as yourself from the likes of old Snivilus here. Why don't you come with me and leave Snivelus behind? The git wants to be in Slytherin."

"Better than Gryffindor, where dwells the dead of head. Only an imbecile follows his heart instead of his brain," Angelina fired back.

But before James Potter could defend his intelligence and intended house, another boy stepped out from the compartment behind him.

"I found the trick galleon, James! It'll turn into a frog in her hand. Won't that give . . ." the boy trailed off as he turned around from shutting the sliding door and saw Angelina.

Upon the appearance of this boy, Angelina had stepped out from behind Severus, her wand pointed at the new arrival.

"How's my little Angel doing?" the boy asked her, smiling casually as he too pulled out his wand. "It's been so long I thought I scared you away."

"You, Black? Scare me? You look like a puppy, and puppies just yap."

Severus smiled. It was true; the boy in front of them was tall with huge feet that he probably tripped on, just like a gangly puppy. The whole image was made almost uncanny by the shaggy black hair that fell messily into his eyes.

"Well, we'll see if my yaps can produce a bite. I've been practicing for this all summer. I wanted it to be perfect for you," the boy purred.

For a second the two just stood staring at each other. Black ended the checkmate by firing first. With a look of glee, Angelina retaliated.

For the moment, Severus and James were ignored as spells were fired rapidly through the air. The corridor became so thick with a cloudy grey fog that all Severus could make out was the occasional flash of blue and white light. Then the corridor finally cleared of smoke several minutes later and the other two other children were revealed. Severus expected there to be a few deformities, the most common side effects of amateur dueling, but what he got was considerably more impressive. Both of their appearances had changed, but not with the normal bout of polka dots or wobbling limbs; instead they had used Transfiguration to change one another. It was only partial Transfiguration, but that was impressive enough. Angelina was now sporting a pair of angel wings and halo, while Black appeared with a wagging tail and an engorged tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Angelina inspected herself with a look of feigned disappoint. "You've been practicing _that_ all summer? It's hardly inventive; you've been using that pun so long now it's getting quite old. But I suppose the technique is better. I believe the halo is passable this time; what do you think Severus? I can't see it."

"Well, it would be adequate for a Mudblood."

The boy flushed, and opened his mouth to retaliate, but whatever clever remark he had on his tongue was never discovered, as all he let out were two fierce barks.

Angelina smirked. "_That_ was the brilliance of my trick. I actually made good use of my summer. Don't know _what_ you were doing."

And with that, since the food cart had long since gone, Angelina turned sharply on her heel and headed back to her compartment, Severus following behind and trying not to grin.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Houses of Hogwarts**  
Chapter Two

Angelina looked on, not at all amused that her fate was going to rest in the hands of a battered hat. At least she no longer had a halo and pair of wings. With Severus' help Angelina had been restored to her former state, although his assistance had cost Severus dearly as Lily was no longer talking to him. She stood a good ways off, next to the boy from the train. Angelina felt slightly bad for being part of the reason the two were not talking – but not that bad

He was better off with out her anyway, Angelina reminded herself turning her attention away from Mudblood. Instead, Angelina watched as a blond girl, her hair in pigtails, sat down on the stool where a tall, stern-looking witch placed the hat on her head.

"Hufflepuff," she quietly predicted to Severus. And sure enough she was right.

"Ravenclaw," Severus whispered his guess as the next student approached the hat. The student in question was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Their game continued on, with Angelina accurately predicting most of the student's future houses, and Severus wondering how the small little girl next to him seemed to know before the hat did.

"Black, Sirius."

There was a ripple of laughter from the older students as Black approached the hat. It looked as if he had been slightly less successful at finding the counter spell than Angelina; he was still sporting a tail and Angelina would bet he was still barking.

She couldn't help smirk as she leaned over to whisper her prediction to Severus.

"What with the pitiful stunt he pulled today, he'll end up in Hufflepuff," Angelina said with an air of hope.

"But he's a Pureblood, isn't he? I mean…he seemed upset by my comment…" Severus let the question hang in the air. With his tailored robes and knowledge of magic, the Black boy had seemed to be a Pureblood.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard of _the_ Black family," she stated, giving him a questioning look. It was a piercing gaze that made Severus feel as if she were trying to prod into his mind. He averted his eyes and turned toward the sorting rather than answer. With a shrug Angelina also returned her attention to the hat, which seemed to be having a hard time with Black. Eventually the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Well, at least we won't have to deal with him in Slytherin." 

It was not long until the redhead girl's name was called. Angelina made no perdiction as the girl walked forward on trembling legs and McGonagall slipped the hat on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat announced a second later.

A tiny groan escaped from the boy next to her, drawing Angelina's attention back to Severus. Angelina saw a flash of something close to pain on Severus' face before it resorted back to its normal scowl.

"Well, at least she doesn't seem to like her fellow housemate very much," Angelina remarked, trying to comfort Severus, as she watched Lily Evan's turn her back on Black.

He stayed silent. Angelina shrugged and turned her attention to the sorting. She was hardly going to worry about a Mudblood.

The sorting continued until the tall, stern witch called Angelina's name.

"Lestrange, Angelina."

"See you at our table," she whispered back to Severus.

Angelina found her legs shaking slightly as she made her way towards the ratty hat. She tried telling herself that she had nothing to worry about; she _was_ a Slytherin. _Yes, that's right. Surely the hat'll see that._ Her stomach did one last flip-flop before she reached the stool and the hat was placed gently on her head.

Her forced calm was broken when, as the hat slipped over her head, a little voice spoke inside her ear:

"Interesting. Let's see…You seem to be quite the industrious student; you're clearly not afraid of some good hard work. Yes. Yes. And you obviously try to be loyal. Loyalty in your family is important is it not? Yes. Yes. Loyalty and hard-working. Could it be Hufflepuff?

"No, no, no, most unsuitable. They wear their hearts on their sleeves, those Hufflepuffs. You don't share your heart with people, do you?

"Don't like sharing your head either?

"But, I see, you don't mind poking about yourself. That is a most unusual talent. Use it for spying do you? Salazar would approve, and Rowena . . .

"What's that? Slytherin, yeah? That's where 'our family' goes, does it? But your Great Uncle Andrew was in Gryffindor; did you know? Did very well. Gryffindor could be where you truly shine. Think of the power you could achieve!

"You don't care about the power? Is that what I just heard? You don't care if Gryffindor would give you power, you'd prefer Slytherin!

"Well, my dear, you're going to have to excuse me, but that does not seem a very Slytherin thing to say. However, Gryffindor would have approved, and with your habit of exploring places best left alone. Who knows, it might be wear you belong. After all, that's where I decided to put Black.

"You're telling me you're as _smart_ and _talented_ as any Slytherin? You say you've got enough _brains_ for the whole house?

"And you're right, my dear. You _are_ skilled, and proud of it. Yes, it takes a good deal of intelligence, as well as a little pride, to be so confident of one's own cleverness. But my dear, you weren't listening to my song. Those that prize wit and learning belong in RAVENCLAW!"

And before Angelina could tell the hat that she _wanted_ Slytherin, that she _was_ a Slytherin, the hat was pulled off.

Angelina dumbly stepped down and blindly stumbled over to take a seat at the Ravenclaw table. The boy next to her introduced himself as Jonathan Clearwater, but Angelina was too stunned to pay much attention. She had been placed in Ravenclaw.

She was dimly aware of her surroundings, somewhere off in the background she heard the witch in charge of the sorting call, "Longbottom, Frank."

She felt physically sick; it was as if someone had punched her in the gut. She was a Blood-Traitor. Scum. Filth.

"You must be new to all this. Parents were Muggles, were they?" Jonathan Clearwater asked, but Angelina wasn't even paying attention. Otherwise she would have cursed him for suggesting that _she_, Angelina Lestrange, could be a Mudblood. "You look a bit stunned. It's okay, you'll get use to it soon enough. The first month's a bit hard…homesick…I missed my parents something dreadful…if you need anything…wouldn't mind if you need someone older to talk to…"

The boy next to Angelina kept up a steady flow of advice as Angelina stared blankly out across the sea of students to the Slytherin table. That was where she should be sitting. Her attention was brought back to the sorting when the stern, tall witch dressed in green robes called the name of Angelina's companion from the train.

"Snape, Severus."

Severus slinked up, his greasy hair falling in a curtain around his face. Seriously, someone needed to give that boy a hair cut. In a matter of moments he was taking a seat at Slytherin. She watched as the Slytherin table welcomed him. She could see her brother, Rodolphus, clapping along with the rest of the house. She tried to catch his eye, but Rodolphus wouldn't even look at her. She decided she'd have a talk with that incompetent hat after dinner.

She sighed and wished the Headmaster would hurry up and get to the point. Leaning over, she whispered to Clearwater, "You don't have a quill by any chance, do you?"

"Oh, very smart; taking a few notes on Professor Dumbledore, are you? Very great man …Order of Merlin . . . defeated Grindelwald…extensive research on dragons' blood…I understand he has a particular fondness for sherbet lemons…favorite color…" 

Angelina had stopped paying attention as soon as he had produced a quill. As the food appeared, Angelina, who had no appetite, set to work on the speech she would give to the Sorting Hat. Using a napkin, she began to scribble down points of argument. 

"We're not going to be tested on this are we?" one girl asked nervously beside her.

"Well, not officially," another first year girl responded. "But they do dock points if you don't follow all the rules. I was reading…"

Angelina distanced herself from the people around her. There was no point in interacting with them anyway. She was sure the Sorting Hat would reevaluate its decision once it heard her very persuasive points. She had simply been unprepared before; it had caught her off guard. This time she would be ready. She ran through the list of arguments again in her mind.

"Come on," Clearwater leaned over. "I'll show you to your room."

"Actually, I want to talk to Professor Dumbledore about…his preference in socks. Wool or cotton? It really is a very big difference. I myself enjoy cotton."

"Quite right, quite right. Hogwarts is a place of learning. Don't fritter away your time, jump right in. I'll see you back in the common room. Do hurry; it'll be after hours soon. Then they start to deduct points."

After reassuring Clearwater that she would return on time, Angelina made her way up to the staff table with no intention of asking Dumbledore anything, especially about his sock preference. No one noticed her, as most of the professors had left the Great Hall or were in the process if doing so. Only the Headmaster and a massive hairy man remained, and the two of them were in a deep discussion. Silently she slipped up to the staff table and placed the hat on her head.

"Hello again," it said. "Yes I should have figured you'd be back. You have a stubborn streak that would make Gryffindor proud."

_I don't want to make Gryffindor proud, I want to make_ Slytherin _proud_, Angelina fumed.

"I still think that you will do well in Ravenclaw, and I'll stand by that."

She wasted a few more minutes trying to convince the hat that she belonged in Slytherin, but it wouldn't budge. It even went so far as to suggest that maybe it had been wrong to pick Ravenclaw, and that it should have placed her in Hufflepuff, or even worse, Gryffindor.

She ripped the hat off, before it did something so foolish, and came face to face with the Headmaster.

"If you're done with the hat, Miss Lestrange, could I have it back?" Professor Dumbledore questioned mildly.

"Yes," she snapped, in a more biting tone than she had intended to use to address the Headmaster.

"Sometimes the fruit others eat is not as sweet as we have been told," said the Headmaster, his eyes twinkling behind half-moon spectacles.

What _was_ he going on about? Maybe he was a bit touched in the head. While Angelina mused about the sanity of the Headmaster, he left. The Great Hall was deserted, and Angelina had no idea where the Ravenclaw common room was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorting Sorrows **  
Chapter Three

Angelina made her way up the sweeping staircase, hoping to bump into an older student that could point her in the direction of her common room. But the halls were empty, not even a ghost in sight.

As she walked timidly down the looming hallways, whispers seemed to follow her. But every time she stopped and looked over her shoulder the sound ceased, and only a deserted corridor lay behind her. Turning left, she walked down a gloomy hall. Whispering _'lumos_' Angelina held her wand a bit higher so that the light from its tip illuminated the hall, lighting the walls and the whispering portraits hanging on them.

"Hello," Angelina greeted a sad looking lady in a delicate oval frame. "I'm Angelina Lestrange. I was wondering if—"

At that a voice called from behind her, "Lestrange, you say? I was a friend of your family back in my day – a good family."

Angelina turned around to see a royal-looking man in a dark velvet cloak hanging in a heavy gilded gold frame.

Angelina smiled. "You know my family?"

"Certainly; I keep a close eye on Rodolphus. A fine Slytherin he's becoming. He'll make your family proud. So I suppose you want to know the way back to your dungeon? Already sneaking around. Most first years are more timid, but I suppose it's the Slytherin in you."

Angelina's smile became strained. "Actually, I'm in Ravenclaw. Do—"

"RAVENCLAW! You shame your family! Do you know how many generations of Lestranges have been Slytherins? Do you care nothing for your illustrious heritage? I will be informing your Great-Great-Grandfather, Rudolph Lestrange, about this foul slandering of your family's noble name. Over on the fifth corridor he is." With that he swept off, pushing two gossiping old women out of his way as he strode through their frame.

"Wait! Can't you at least point me in the right direction?"

"Be gone, Blood-Traitor!" The word pierced Angelina's heart and she could feel the sting of tears behind her eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to ward off the tears.

"Please," she cried, somewhat hysterically. "Please, I need help finding the Ravenclaw common room." None of the portraits spoke. "Please, will some one help me?"

Suddenly a crack sounded from behind her, and Angelina spun on her heels, lifting her wand defensively.

"Miss, is calling FuFu for help. FuFu was just finishing cleaning the classroom down the hall when Miss called. FuFu would be honored to help Miss," said the voice of a tiny house-elf.

Angelina blinked slowly down at the house-elf standing before her. The elf's large eyes reminded her of the house-elves at home. Suddenly, she found herself wishing very much to be back home with Twinkle, her personal house-elf.

"Oh, what is it Miss? FuFu was not wishing to upset Miss. Now, now, Miss mustn't cry. Is Miss wishing to come down to the kitchens? FuFu is making nice warm tea for Miss and Miss is telling FuFu what is wrong."

"I don't want to go to the kitchens. I just need to find my common room and I have no idea where it is!" Angelina cried in distress.

"Oh, now Miss mustn't worry. FuFu is knowing where all the common rooms are. She is cleaning them. Now, in which house is Miss?"

"Ravenclaw," Angelina moaned in agony.

"Now, now, Miss must not cry. Miss is not to worry. FuFu is helping." And FuFu set off with a waddle. "Come, Miss; this way."

Angelina hurried to keep up. Halfway past the library, the sound of footsteps could be heard down the corridor. Panic instantly engulfed Angelina. She was going to be caught out of bed her first night! Frozen in fear, Angelina stared, her eyes transfixed down the hall.

A girl wearing a long white night gown with bunny slippers peeking out from under the hem came shuffling into view, accompanied by a small grey cat.

"Chloe!" Angelina cried in relief, hurrying down the hall.

"Oh there you are! I was so worried. I was afraid you'd never find the common room, so, I decided to come and find you. The other girls wouldn't come; they said we'd get expelled if we were caught," the girl whispered quietly.

Angelina stared dumbly at the girl. Did she know her? Surely not. She was rather plain, with loose, wavy blond hair and a rather unremarkable heart-shaped face. Still, she reminded Angelina of someone; she just couldn't place it. Surely she didn't know anyone who would be sorted into Ravenclaw.

The girl stared back at Angelina with large doe-like eyes. "We can talk more when we get back," she said, "but we shouldn't make much noise. I heard the caretaker is very unpleasant."

Angelina nodded dumbly. Just then the house-elf pulled lightly on Angelina's robes, reminding her of the elf's presence. "FuFu is going now that Miss is safe. If ever Miss needs FuFu, all she is to do is call."

"Ah, thanks FuFu," Angelina said in a hushed voice, but the elf was already gone.

The two girls started down the corridor, silently throwing furtive glances over their shoulders at every creak of the castle as it settled further into its foundation, hoping they wouldn't be caught out of bed their first night at Hogwarts.

"I only hope the questions not too hard," the girl whispered as they climbed up a flight of spiraled stairs. At last they arrived outside of a door; however, it had no handle or keyhole, just a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.

Angelina wondered briefly if the blonde girl had really brought them to the correct entrance, but as Angelina wondered about the sense of her companion the other girl reached up and gave the door a timid knock.

"What must always be considered when composing a spell?" A disembodies voice questioned.

"Uh?" the girl glanced nervously at Angelina. "I haven't a clue, have you?"

But Angelina was already rambling off the answer.

"Very nicely put." Came the compliment as the door swung open.

Once in the safety of their common room, the girl turned to Angelina.

"That was brilliant! I'm Emma Hope," the girl told her, ignoring Angelina's s reserved manners and giving a brilliant smile.

Angelina wished for the second time that day that she had been paying attention to the list of surnames that were acceptable. She had been so sure she would be sorted into Slytherin at the time that it hadn't seemed to matter. However, Emma Hope seemed easy enough to figure out. For, Angelina thought snobbishly, what self respecting Pureblood family would go by the surname of 'Hope'? Or allow any member to wear such ridiculous slippers.

It was clear that Emma Hope was a Mudblood.

Who did not know the first thing about spell composition.

"Lestrange."

"Oh, my father is friends with a family called Lestrange," Emma said, as the two girls made their way up the staircase to their dormitory.

"I doubt it's the same one. My family doesn't talk to Muggles. We haven't consorted with them for thousands of years. Our name goes back, uncontaminated, all the way to the Gold Book."

"Oh."

Entering the room, only one light remained on; the rest of the girls had gone to bed.

"It's quite late; I'm going to bed," Angelina said primly. With that she started to change for bed, but Rain continued, oblivious.

"I'm so excited about tomorrow; I can't sleep. Do you think you will?"

"I think I'll manage if I get some peace and quiet."

The girl didn't take the hint.

"But aren't you excited about tomorrow? It's the first day of lessons. Of course, I'm not as nervous as earlier, when we were being sorted. I thought I might get Hufflepuff, which isn't too bad, but I never imagined I'd get into Ravenclaw."

"Why not?" Angelina asked as she climbed into bed, curious despite herself. She had only ever met people that knew they were going to be Slytherins.

"I didn't think I'd be smart enough. Ravenclaw's the best house."

"What _are _you talking about? Slytherin is the best house. It's where all the best wizards come from."

"But aren't you happy to be in Ravenclaw?"

"No, the Cruciatus Curse is better than this!" Angelina snapped before jerking the curtains closed around her bed.


	4. Chapter 4

_Special thanks to __mioneweasley-witch, Kyra Gwin, and Ramzes for leaving reviews. This chapter is for you three_.

**Fainting Fits**  
Chapter Four

Angelina stretched her stiff legs as she walked down the hill to Herbology. The breath of fresh air was refreshing after a stuffy and exceedingly dull History of Magic class. Most of her classmates were talking about how informative History of Magic had been and how they were looking forward to more.

Angelina rolled her eyes at their absurdity. Emma was more verbal about her disagreement.

"_That_ was supposed to be interesting!" she whispered in shock and outrage to Angelina as they approached the greenhouses. "I thought we'd be learning how to actually _do_ magic, not just hear about it. That was just like school in the Muggle world, but instead of people there were goblins. It put me to sleep . . . Of course I was up all night, I was so nervous."

It looked like tonight would be another long night, as they had Astronomy at midnight.

"Do you think Professor Binns noticed?" Emma moaned nervously. "Oh, no. I knew I couldn't be in Ravenclaw!"

"I'm sure you blended in just fine with the other house," Angelina consoled, as she walked into the greenhouse. A second later her nose started to itch, her eyes were tearing, and her throat felt like she had swallowed itching powder. There was a rushing noise in her ears and the greenhouse looked like it was falling away. Everything went black.

Angelina awoke in the hospital wing.

"Oh, good. You're awake." The nurse smiled.

"I fell asleep?" Angelina question, horrified she had been caught napping the first day of school.

"No, no, my dear. You fainted."

"I fainted!" Angelina croaked in a strangled voice, mortified.

"An allergy attack. A very strong one from the looks of it."

Well that was a little better. Not much, but better.

"Why?" Angelina asked, sitting up in bed.

"I'm still running some tests, but from what I've gathered, you have a high level of poison in your blood stream. It's most unusual. I have been trying to test what you absorbed, but I'm having a hard time identifying the mixture. I can't be sure, mind you, but right now it would seem you have absorbed several poisons."

"_What_?" Angelina cried somewhat hysterically. "Are you saying I've been poisoned?"

"No. I'm saying it appears that your blood has been contaminated by a variety of different poisons," The nurse countered in a tone that suggested she thought Angelina was being a slight hypochondriac. "Right now I am hypothesizing the poison is from the plants in the greenhouse. Please dear, do calm down. It's a bit unusual, but nothing to worry about."

"Why would the poison be in my blood if I wasn't poisoned?" Angelina challenged skeptically, trying to keep the panic out of her voice and not all together succeeding

"I'm running the tests as we speak, although I'd say it's some type of allergic reaction. Quite routine — I'll have an antidote by this evening. Now can I have a look at your wand?"

"Why?" Angelina asked suspiciously, shooting the nurse a piercing look as if x-raying for alternative motives.

"The wand tells a lot about its wizard," was the cryptic response, as the nurse took Angelina's wand from grudging hands. "Hmmm. Weeping willow, no?"

"Yeah, I think…"

"Unusual. It's from the heart of the tree. Otherwise it would be too whippy. Still it's got a nice swish to it. My wand happens to be willow too, though not a weeping willow. You must have gotten it abroad."

"Yeah," Angelina said vaguely.

"Do you remember what's inside?"

"Unicorn hair, and three tears of a phoenix."

"Not the usual ingredients."

"My mother's family had their own wand maker."

"Okay, well that's it for now. I'll not be sure what the problem is until this evening, but if you wish to come up then, I should be able to tell you. Now, if you rush you might be able to pick up a bite before your next class starts."

That night, Angelina picked suspiciously at her dinner while throwing distrustful glances around her table. The nurse had said she hadn't been poisoned, but Angelina wasn't risking it. Scraping back her seat, she headed off towards the hospital wing, Emma close on her heels. Emma seemed to have come up with the idea that Angelina should be closely monitored until the mediwitch found a cure.

"Hello, Madam Pomfrey," Emma greeted as they entered the hospital wing.

"Oh, hello dear. You came back with Miss Lestrange I see. It's very sweet of you to be so concerned," Madam Pomfrey stated, looking up from something on her desk. "But everything is perfectly fine with your friend."

_Friend? Since when was Hope her friend?_ Angelina panicked. _If Father hears I've been associating with Mudbloods . . . I'll be no better than that blood traitor Sirius Black._

"Well, Miss Lestrange, there is nothing to worry about. I talked to Professor Slughorn and he prescribed a simple tonic that should take care of the problem. The house elves will be more than willing to put it in your pumpkin juice every day at breakfast. Any questions, Miss Lestrange?"

"No."

"It looks like you're set then."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. See you later, girls."

Rain and Angelina went to the library to start on their History of Magic essays, but soon had to stop, as it was time for Astronomy.

The night was unseasonably cold for the beginning of September, and the winds were blowing with a vengeance on the small group standing on top of Astronomy Tower. Even with the warming charms she had cast, by the end of the class Angelina was freezing.

"What is the importance of knowing the moon's cycle? Mr. Lupin, could you please answer this question?"

Angelina had noticed right from the start that the Astronomy professor seemed to harbor an unfounded loathing for the quiet, sandy haired Gryffindor from the train, and had picked on him regularly since the start of class. She had even taken ten points from Gryffindor when he hadn't known the answer to a question.

"It's important in the picking of plants and the brewing of potions. If you stew the potion of Dreamless Sleep when there is a new moon, it turns into the Draught of Living Death," replied Lupin timidly.

"There is another reason, is there not, for monitoring the moon closely, Mr. Lupin?" Professor Shady continued. "For werewolves it is particularly important to watch the moon, so that they can take special precautions. It would be dreadful if they made a mistake in their calculations of when the moon rose and were therefore loose at the wrong time, and bit someone. Isn't that right, Mr Lupin?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Good. For the next month I expect a complete chart of all the moon's fazes. You are to sketch the moon and its position relative to the earth. Please be consistent with the time you choose to document the moon, or your chart will be incorrect. There is a whole chapter in your book about the process. Read this by next class. It is important that you follow the procedure outlined in the book or you are likely to fail the assignment. There will be no allowances made just because you are first years. Incompetence should never be rewarded. I hope I make myself clear. Class dismissed."

Hurrying down the steps Angelina bumped into Black.

"Be careful, Angel, we don't want your delicate self fainting," Black laughed and Angelina was pleased to hear a bit of the barking charm was still working.

"It was an allergy attack," Emma snapped, much to Angelina and Black's surprise.

"Oh? And what's your name? I'm Sirius Black," he greeted, throwing a charming smile at Emma.

"Emma Hope."

"Nice to meet you, Emma."

"It's Hope to you, Black," she spit out in a biting tone that would have made a Slytherin proud.

"Watch your mouth, Hope the Dope or I'll clean it out with soap."

"Watch your nicknames, Black. I'd say your friend looks like a four eyed alien," Angelina retorted scathingly, directing the comment at the scrawny boy with glasses standing beside Black.

"Oh, look I forgot my manners," Black exclaimed.

"You never had any manners to forget," Angelina sniped.

Black ignored her and continued, "Angelina dear, this is James Potter. James, this is my little Angel. I believe you met each other yesterday in the hallway, but I'm not sure we had time for a proper introduction."

Remembering the state of their last meeting, Angelina drew her wand. Emma quickly followed suit.

Before any curses could fly, the Professor Shady came down the stairs. "Five points from Gryffindor. Magic is not allowed in the hallways."

At that James Potter opened his mouth to point out that he and Black did not have their wands out, but was cut off by the Professor.

"Hurry along boys before I give you detention." Potter and Black left in a hurry. When they had rounded the corner the Professor turned to face the girls. "Miss Lestrange, I was a friend of your mother's. She was a brilliant woman; I hope I can expect the same of you. Even if you _are_ in Ravenclaw." She smiled at Angelina before sweeping off down the hall in a flutter of blue robes.

Angelina and Emma turned on their heels and headed back to their common room. As they passed the library Emma finally spoke, and to Angelina's relief it wasn't about her mother.

"So are you going to tell me why I should hate Black?"

"I don't know. You seemed to decide that for yourself."

"Because it's obvious that you hate Black, and as your friend I should too. I want to know why."

"It's none of your business."

"Yes it is."

"Look I never asked you to get involved."

"But I'm your friend, you don't have to ask."

Angelina didn't know what to think. But the brush with the Astronomy professor had reminded Angelina very forcefully of who, and what, she was. She was a Pureblood witch.

"Just because you came looking for me the other night does not make us friends. Look, I'm not sure where you got the idea that a Pureblood witch, like me, and a Mudblood, like you, could be friends. But you obviously don't have a clue as to how the Wizarding world works."

"The correct term is Muggle-Born, not Mudblood," Emma corrected flippantly.

"Were you not paying attention to what I just said?" Angelina cried in frustration as they reached the Ravenclaw's doorway

"Sure I did; Baskalisk," Emma said in response to the question and the door swung open. "Now let's get some sleep before classes tomorrow."

With that she headed for their dorm, leaving a baffled Angelina staring blankly after her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Flying Fiasco **

Chapter Five

It was early Tuesday morning, and Angelina sat groggily at breakfast. Emma, who acted as if last night had never happened, was disgustingly cheerful. She poured over her class schedule, giving Angelina a blow-by-blow account of all the subjects.

"And on Friday we start out with Transfiguration, then History of Magic, followed by Herbology, and after lunch we have double Potions, and to finish the day we have _flying_! Wow and I thought flying brooms only happened in Hollywood," Emma sighed dreamily

"What?" Angelina questioned.

"Oh, never mind. Tell me about flying! Is it hard? Are you really good?"

"Flying is only for boys; Pureblood witches do not partake in such activities," Angelina regurgitated what her mother had always told her.

"But," Emma started but was cut off as a Howler exploded at the Gryffindor table.

"GRYFFINDOR!?! SIRIUS BLACK!" Screamed the high-pitched voice Angelina recognized as belonging to Mrs. Black. "HALF-BREED SHMUCKS, BLOOD TRAITOR SCUM, MUDBLOOD LOVING BASTARDS, AND MUDBLOOD FILTH BELONG IN GRYFFINDOR! NOT BLACKS! YOU BEFOUL THE NAME OF MY FAMILY! YOU ABOMINATION! SHAME OF MY FLESH! YOU BESMURCH THE NOBLE AND ANCIENT NAME OF BLACK! SIRIUS BLACK REMEMBER: SUCH BEHAVIOR WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!"1

At the end of the Howler, Angelina looked around franticly, hoping against hope that a red envelope was not coming to her. Luckily the rest of breakfast continued without incident, and she couldn't help but sigh in relief.

The week continued with little interest or excitement. People learnt to skirt widely around Angelina and Black when they passed in case of stray hexes. However, Angelina avoided total alienation from her house by earning a total of twenty-five points in her first week, which was, as Clearwater told her, a house record.

Friday finally rolled around, but before Angelina could reach the weekend she had to face Flying Lessons. To make matters worse they had the class with Potter and Black. So, with a heavy heart Angelina followed Emma as they made their way down to the grounds to meet the person who would be teaching them how to fly.

"I'm Abraham Aclebe, but everyone calls me Abe," said a short, fat, balding man with a thick American accent. "Used to play on the Chudley Cannons Reserve back when I was young. So I'll be teaching you kids all about flying. The first thing ya gotta know about flying is: It's fun. Everyone likes to fly. So, if ya'll stand next to a broom and tell it to get on up, then we can start."

Angelina walked over to a broom, Emma following her.

"Did any of that make any sense to you?" Emma asked.

"Basically he's an idiot that's been hit by a Bludger too many times," Angelina remarked derisively. "Up," she commanded and up the broom jumped. She looked around to see what to do next, but most people seemed to be having a hard time getting their brooms to obey.

Abe walked around 'helping' people until finally every one was mounted properly.

"All right folks, the best way to learn how to fly is to fly. Now, when you're ready, push off the ground. Just fly around a bit. Don't worry, falling off is just part of the learning process. All right, what ya waiting for? Times a flyin', no pun intended." He chuckled at his own wit.

Angelina rose slowly and somewhat shakily. Glancing down, her stomach did nervous flip-flops at the distance between her feet and the ground. She cast the broom a suspicious glance; it didn't look too reliable. Just then, a small fat Gryffindor boy gave a shriek as he fell from his broom. That settled it; Angelina steadied her broom and prepared to sit out the flying lesson—if you could even call it that. Most of the class was borderline horrid, and the bloody American was not particularly helping. People kept falling off their brooms. Soon several students were heading up to the hospital wing.

"Very good, very good. Only way to learn is to make mistakes. Very impressive, Potter," Abe shouted.

Angelina looked up to see James Potter flying around doing loops and flips. The arrogant git kept looking at the red haired Gryffindor from the train and winking. To her credit, the girl didn't look impressed.

"Come on Angel, don't be afraid to fly. You'll have old Sirius here to catch you."

The biting reply from Angelina was cut off by a high-pitched scream as one of the Ravenclaw girls came hurtling down. With out thinking, Angelina swished her wand, sending a spell to catch the incompetent girl just as a wobbling Gryffindor boy knocked into Angelina, sending the spell off-target.

The spell hit Potter, sending him out of his loops. Angry, Potter fired back. Soon curses and hexes were flying, and even more people were falling off their brooms.

Angelina joined in with glee, sending a Jelly-Leg Jinx at Sirius Black. Black, normally a good flier, started weaving and dipping, nearly crashing into the redhead Potter had been showing off for.

Potter, trying to retaliate, sent a jet of bubble pink magic at Angelina; however, it hit a Ravenclaw who was hurtling through the air after being hit with a full body-bind curse.

"STOP!" bellowed a red faced Abe. "STOP! FIVE POINTS FROM THE NEXT HOUSE TO CAST A SPELL!!"

That got everyone's attention, quick.

"Now, YOU. Miss…?" Here Abe twirled and pointed his wand at Angelina.

"Lestrange."

"Miss Lestrange, you come over here this instant."

Sighing, she descended. Abe was undoing the curses, although Angelina noticed with some satisfaction that he was having trouble with the spell she had cast on a tall blonde Gryffindor.

After some time, Abe finished restoring the class to their proper state, although one boy was still hopping every-other step, and Abe Aclebe yelled that class was dismissed.

"Now, _you_," he hissed, turning to Angelina. "You're to have two detentions for every curse. You cursed six people. That means, Miss Lestrange, that I want ya down here once every Sunday for the next twelve weeks. You and me are gonna be havin' extra flying lessons. I expect to see you this Sunday at noon. You may go."

"I can't believe the nerve of that man," Angelina fumed to Emma, who had stayed behind to wait for her.

"You could have really _hurt_ someone. Anyway it's not like he's making you clean the hospital bedpans or something. Flying's fun if you _move_," Emma reasoned. She had been surprisingly good at flying and was now skipping next to Angelina in boisterous good spirits. "I can't wait to try out for Quidditch. Lily was telling me about—"

"Lily Evans, the Gryffindor?"

"Yeah, she's the redheaded you nearly killed her with one of your hexes. You don't know her do you?"

"She's a Mudblood, Emma," Angelina responded as if that answered the question.

"Lena, I might not mind you saying Mudblood but other wizards and witches might not—"

"Everyone says Mudblood, Emma. Everyone."

And they let the subject drop.

1


	6. Chapter 6

** b A Powwow with Pomfrey /b **

Chapter 6

On Thursday afternoons, first-year Ravenclaws got out early and Angelina planned to take full advantage of this opportunity. This free time was a perfect occasion to explore Hogwarts's castle and grounds without suspicion. Now, a month into the school year, there had been three Thursday afternoons that she had made use of. Angelina had previously explored the 6th floor, where she had found nothing more than a short-cut to use between Transfiguration and Charms. On her second outing she had been even less successful, only stumbling across a distraught ghost named Myrtle in the out-of-order bathroom on the second floor. On her last outing she had discovered the Prefects' bathroom, which would _almost_ be worth becoming a Prefect for. Luckily, Jonathan Clearwater had let the password and location slip one evening when he had been droning on about the perks of being a Prefect. It had taken her only a little while to locate the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor and even less time to find the fourth door to the left of the statue, so she had soon been able to enjoy all the bubble baths she wanted.

She doubted that she would be so lucky as to find anything as good a second time, but the previous evening, while in the library researching the latest Potions assignment for Slughorn, she had overheard none other than Black and Potter discussing the possibility of a secret passage that actually led out of the castle. Angelina would rather live as a Muggle than have them find it before her. That was why this Thursday she had planned to scour the castle for clues of the passageway. The only hitch in her plan was that Emma had already made arrangements to study with some Ravenclaw boy named Shacklebolt for the Astronomy test that was coming up next Monday. Peeved, Angelina decided that obviously she'd just have to do this by herself.

However, as she made her way out of the greenhouse after her last period of the day, instead of heading back up to the gloom of the castle, Angelina spontaneously decided to explore the grounds and struck out down to the lake. It was one of those fall days that the breeze ruffling the still-green leaves carries the hint of colder days to come. The impending chill of winter only served to heighten the pleasure Angelina took from the warmth of the sun on her skin, the crisp smell in the air, and the glorious stretch of bright blue sky.

Unsure of where to explore, Angelina paused to survey the land. Out in front of her stretched the lake and the forbidden forest. It fleetingly crossed her mind to explore this out-of-bounds area, but she decided against it, as she wasn't much into hiking, sweating, or bugs. Overall, the forest, despite the secrets she was sure it held, had little appeal. Thus she decided on sneaking off to explore the Hogsmeade Village.

Angelina had just started off when someone behind her shouted her name. She turned around, wondering if Emma had changed her mind about studying for the Astronomy exam. Instead she saw the mediwitch, Madam Pomfrey, was standing over by the entrance to a greenhouse. She beckoned to Angelina, and with some reluctance Angelina approached.

"You seem to be doing better," the Healer observed when Angelina was standing next to her.

"Yep," Angelina said, hoping if she agreed she'd be let off to explore.

"You know, I've been wanting to show you something for a while. Will you come with me?" Madam Pomfrey questioned, jerking her head in the direction of the greenhouse.

Reluctantly Angelina followed the mediwitch into the steaming glass house.

Inside they were greeted by a sweet fragrance entirely unfamiliar to Angelina. There were also a variety of exotic looking plants that she recognized as being much more dangerous than the plants found in the first-year greenhouse. As the older witch led the way through the narrow aisles between rows of wild-looking vegetation growing in ordered chaos on each side, Angelina carefully kept her hands to herself. Even with her allergy potion, she was no wiz at Herbology, and routinely had to be sent to the Hospital wing. She seemed particularly prone to poisonous plants, and had had to send away for a special pair of protective gloves.

At the end of the greenhouse stood a profusion of flowering bushes, and it was from these delicate plants that the fragrant aroma filling the greenhouse originated. The plants themselves had glossy, dark green leaves that contrasted with the white blossoms currently in full bloom.

"This," the mediwitch announced, "is the i _fructum ex veneno /i _, or by its common name, the Alchemist. Do you know what this plant does, Miss Lestrange?"

"No."

"Without this plant we would not be able to step foot inside this greenhouse. The rest of this house's inhabitants are highly poisonous—so much so that they are too toxic for wizards and witches to approach without heavy protection. Unless, of course, the Alchemist is present. You see, it absorbs the poisons and filters them back into the air as the delightful scent that fills this room. Many wizards and witches have tried, over the centuries, to capture its perfume, but all have failed. You see, the perfume turns back into poison and kills the wearer."

"I see. But what does this have to do with me?" Angelina had a nasty feeling she knew where Madam Pomfrey was going with this.

"Well my dear, I thought you might find it interesting. You see, some witches and wizards are born with a skill very similar to that of the Alchemist. They too absorb things – such as poison, or sometimes even thoughts and feelings—from their surroundings. For them, only Occlumency can stop the absorption."

"I see."

And with that the older witch left Angelina in the greenhouse staring at the poison-absorbing Alchemist.

After her chat with Madam Pomfrey, Angelina wasn't much in the mood for exploring so she headed to the library to do some research instead. However, she was unable to find much on the subject of Madam Pomfrey's revelation. The single paragraph she did find was located in a thick, dusty volume she'd unearthed in a section of the stacks she was certain no one had visited in years judging by the dust on the cover, and it wasn't very helpful at that. In addition, all the books on Occlumency were located in the restricted section, and as a first year, she didn't have access to them. Frustrated by the library's lack of information on the subject, Angelina sat in the library stunning flies and ranting under her breath.

"Uhh…Could I join you? All the other tables are full."

"No," Angelina stated, not looking up.

"Uhh…sorry." The person had already started to shuffle off when she finally looked up. It was Remus Lupin. She hadn't really seen him much since their trip on the train together. The few times she had seen him he had been with Black and Potter, laughing at some pathetic joke. Of course, the whole of Gryffindor house seemed to be besotted with the wit and charm or Black and Potter. In fact, with the exception of Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and herself, it seemed everyone in the school was enamored with the prats. Potter had even picked up a sidekick, Peter Pettigrew. In Angelina's opinion, Pettigrew wasn't even a worthy adversary. At lest Black and Potter could defend themselves; Pettigrew would end up in a bundle of jinxes if he wasn't careful.

Remembering the saying of "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," Angelina decided to invite Remus Lupin to sit with her. You never knew what he might reveal.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind," Angelina amended.

"You sure?" the boy asked tentatively. The stormy eyed Ravenclaw was feared throughout the school for her nasty curses. Of course, she rarely hit anyone who didn't provoke her, but he didn't want to even miff her slightly. He'd seen what happened to Peter Pettigrew, and the boy had only laughed at one of Potter's jokes.

"Sure. Lupin, right? We sat together on the train."

"Yeah," he agreed smiling. "You're Angelina Lestrange."

"Call me Lena, everyone does."

"Potter and Black call you Angel."

"Potter and Black don't sit at my table." She left out the part about getting cursed instead, as she felt that might seem threatening.

"How do you like Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Remus asked, trying to change the subject and noticing the thick volume on the subject lying on the table.

Angelina shrugged. "Theoretically it's interesting enough, but with Professor Fishback ... I swear the only monster she's ever seen is in the mirror when she wakes up."

Lupin couldn't help but laugh at the girl's description of the Dark Arts teacher. He found himself enjoying her company as they both did their homework.

"There you two are! We've been looking everywhere for you!" Emma shouted across the library, earning a disapproving look from the librarian. Beside her was Lily Evans, the Mudblood Gryffindor.

"Hi Lily," Lupin greeted, while picking up his books. "You ready for dinner?"

"Yeah let's go. See you both later," Evans said, waving good-bye to the two girls.

"I'm glad you're making friends with Remus. Isn't he just too sweet?"

"Yeah, sure, Emma. Where were you? I thought you'd be studying."

"Oh, Lily and I were talking to Abe about Quidditch."

Angelina felt a pang that Emma had gone with Lily and not her. i _Why? I don't even _like_ Emma. She's annoying, and babbles way too much, and is not particularly skilled, and for some reason I am jealous that she picked Lily over me. For some reason I want her to think of me as her /i _friend._ i Even though she's a /i _MUDBLOOD.

And for some reason, Angelina didn't find herself caring very much that Emma was a Mudblood.


	7. Chapter 7

** b Trick or Treat /b **

Chapter Seven

Angelina had spent the previous evening pouring over books in the library. Originally she had been looking for more information on Occlumency, as she had obtained a permission slip from the Astronomy professor to visit the restricted section. However, she had stumbled across a section of volumes on invisibility, which had struck her as very interesting and possibly very useful for obtaining more information on subjects forbidden to her.

Consequently, Angelina, who was never very lively in the mornings anyway, was practically comatose at breakfast that morning. She sat silently sipping her tea and occasionally nibbling on a tomato; Emma had insisted she eat something as breakfast was "the most important meal of the day." Too tired to argue, Angelina docilely let Emma cram her plate full of eggs, kippers, and tomatoes, even though Angelina abhorred any type of eggs. Similarly, when Emma decided to strike up a conversation about her Muggle relations in America, Angelina let her continue the monologue without the usual rebuff.

"In America," Emma was saying, "Muggles also celebrate Halloween . . ."

Instead Angelina did her best to ignore the incorrigible Emma, staring dreamily into space. Unfortunately, her relative peace was interrupted by an unwelcome morning visit.

"Good morning my sunshine, my sweet Angel," the all too familiar voice of Sirius Black drawled, causing a few people nearby to chortle. They stopped abruptly as Angelina cast a silencing spell on all of them.

With a crack, a halo appeared above her head just as Black and Potter strolled past on their way to the Gryffindor table, giving each other high-fives and whooping as they went.

Waving her wand, Angelina made the halo disappear with a bang and some smoke. She had since the beginning of school become very adept at that particular counter curse. She glared malevolently over at Black and Potter—who were now toasting one another with pumpkin juice and regaling a snickering Pettigrew with the events of the morning—while Emma happily chatted away about how cute her little cousin had looked all dressed up as a pumpkin.

Suddenly, genius hit. Smiling maliciously, Angelina observed, "It must be really great to be able to know both wizard and Muggle worlds, Emma."

Without batting a lash at this change in opinion, Emma launched into a speech comparing the pros and cons of being born to a Muggle rather than a pureblood family.

"And then there's the whole issue of having one parent who's magical while the other is not." Emma continued expounding on the idea even as she and Angelina finished breakfast and made their way to Charms.

Once one comes up with a plan, the next step is to find a competent partner in crime with whom to implement it. Unfortunately for Angelina, the Ravenclaw house did not exactly abound with suitable accomplices. The only one that did not toe the line (aside from Angelina herself) was Emma, and the memory of Emma melting her caldron during their first Potions class (in which they hadn't even made a potion) was still sufficiently strong to deter Angelina from asking her—at least this time.

If only she had been sorted into Slytherin, she would have been able to find plenty of sly conspirators that would be more than happy to volunteer their services. As it was, she didn't know anyone in Slytherin but her brother. Well, and the boy on the train . . . but he would probably avoid her like the rest of the house. And who could blame them? She would have shunned her too.

However, fate seemed to be smiling on Angelina. That Thursday the last class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts with Slytherin. Emma was in the hospital wing because of some injuries she had sustained in Potions. When the professor requested that everyone pair up, Angelina and Severus were the only ones left without a partner besides a Slytherin boy whose partners had a nasty habit of turning up in the hospital wing. Angelina and Severus quickly paired up, leaving the teacher to deal with the somewhat psychopathic student.

However, halfway through class the professor mysteriously had to rush off to see Madam Pomfrey. Left unsupervised, the class disintegrated into various conversations.

"Severus?" Angelina questioned, turning to her silent partner.

"Yes?"

"How are you at Potions?"

"Passable," he responded, giving the Ravenclaw a questioning look. "Why?"

"Well, I've got an idea."

"Really? You mean that brain of yours actually _works_?" was his acidic response.

"What do you think of the Gryffindor boys in our year? Particularly Black and Potter," she questioned, unperturbed by his prickly exterior.

She hardly needed to hear his response; the look on his face said it all. At the mention of the two boys' names, his lips had formed an unattractive sneer that transformed his face; his expression was rather frightening.

"Why do you want to know?" was all he said.

"Well, I thought we could give them a taste of their own tricks."

At this, the boy's face lit up in interest. "Alright, I'm listening."

Taking heart, Angelina launched into an explanation of her plan.

By the end, Severus was smiling maliciously.

"Brilliant," he whispered when she was done. Angelina blushed. "But I think we need one more person to help."

"Who?" Angelina questioned glancing about the room at the other Slytherins.

"Lily Evans – "

"But she's a Mudblood," Angelina commented snobbishly.

"Fine, if you don't want her. But she's the best in Potions in our class. Slughorn practically wants to adopt her."

"Really?"

"Really. And she doesn't like Black and Potter any more than we do."

But before the debate could continue there was a burst of noise from the hall as students where let out of their class.

"Alright," Angelina agreed as she packed up her bag. "We'll meet in the secret passageway on the third floor by the armor gallery in three hours. Tell Evans."

And with that the two hurried off, Angelina to the library and Severus to inform Lily of the plan.

The next few weeks found the trio, heads bent in the library, pouring over books. This did nothing to improve Angelina's relationship with people in her house, but she didn't care. However, this association did not deter Emma, and while she kept her distance from the sallow Slytherin boy, the blonde Mudblood approved of Angelina's association with Lily Evans, even if none of Angelina's family would have. In fact, Emma, much to Angelina's puzzlement, continued to accompany Angelina all around school.

"I've been thinking," Emma voiced one day as the two Ravenclaw girls sat in the library working on their homework, "and I think Hogwarts should have a costume party on Halloween. What do you think?"

"I'm sure it's a lovely idea, Emma," Angelina mumbled absentmindedly. She was staring down at her History of Magic essay and wondering if Professor Binns would notice if she made up a few names.

"I tried to talk to Clearwater, since he's a fifth year Prefect, but he said that the Heads had better things to do than listen to harebrained first year's schemes."

"He doesn't know what he's talking about. It's brilliant," Angelina responded, not really knowing what she was sympathizing with, but knowing Harebrained was a perfect name for her made-up troll.

"If I'm ever a Prefect, I'll make sure there's a costume party, maybe even a dance."

"Humm, me too. If I'm ever a Prefect," Angelina promised. It didn't matter what she promised if the conditions were her being a Prefect. Her father would become a Muggle lover, Severus would start giving out sweets instead of curses, and Black would go a semester without detentions before that happened.

Angelina sat on the edge of her bed, clasping a little bottle in her hand. In the bottle was a potion that Lily, Severus, and she had concocted together.

"FuFu?" She called hesitantly. "FuFu?"

The elf had told Angelina to call if she ever needed help. Angelina was going to see if she could use this help to get back at Potter and Black. While Pettigrew was, as always, their faithful sidekick, there was only enough potion for the main targets. This time at least.

"FuFu? I need some help."

Angelina was at the point of considering extracting the locations of the kitchen from an older student, probably not a Ravenclaw, when FuFu appeared with a crack.

"How is Miss doing? FuFu is hoping Miss is feeling much better. FuFu has specially been making Miss's bed to check up on how Miss is doing. FuFu is seeing that Miss has made a friend. She is hoping Miss is much happier now."

"Yes, much. But my friends Sirius Black and James Potter are not doing so well."

"FuFu is sorry to hear that. They are such nice boys. FuFu is seeing the two of them down in the kitchens all the time."

_ i They had even managed to charm the house elves_, /i Angelina thought in exasperation

"Yes, well if you put this tonic in their pumpkin juice tonight they will feel much better."

"Oh, Miss is so kind. FuFu is honored Miss has asked for FuFu's help. FuFu is most willing to help." Taking the bottle, FuFu disappeared with a crack.

That done, Angelina hurried to tell Severus that every thing had gone as planned.

At dinner that night, Angelina was grinning like the Cheshire cat. She shifted in her seat trying to get a better view of Black and Potter. Suddenly with two pops, jack-o'-lanterns appeared in place of the two boys' heads. People shrieked and pointed at the two boys, laughing uproariously.

Potter seemed to be distinctly put out, as the redheaded Mudblood was one of those laughing at him, but Black was actually enjoying the attention!

Angelina was furious. After all their hard work, the plan had backfired.

"I'm sorry, Lena. It really was a marvelous potion. Maybe you can help me in Potions. I am horrid at it."

Angelina was on the verge of denying that she had anything to do with this failure of a prank – Lestranges did not fail—when all of a sudden Emma reached her arm around Angelina's shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

Instead she whispered, "Thanks. You actually gave me the idea with your cousin's custom. It was an incredibly complex potion – Evans really is a genius in potions. It took us two weeks to brew . . ."

And with that Angelina launched into a detailed description of the process of making the potion, while Emma just smiled and reached for a second helping.


	8. Chapter 8

** b Friends Forever /b **

Chapter Eight

It is said that there is usually one teacher that a student loathes above all others. For Angelina, this teacher was Abe Aclebe. At every opportunity the almost squib would pop up and add on to the list of detentions Angelina had. If this kept up she would not have a Quidditch free Sunday until after she left Hogwarts. Consequently, she had spent more time on a broom recently than she would have ever cared to. Emma or shine, hot or cold, Abe Acblebe expected to see Angelina on the Quidditch pitch. She probably got as much or more practice than the Ravenclaw Quidditch team (a school wide joke; they barely had enough players to make a team and were on a five year losing streak.).

That's why a Sunday evening in November found Angelina wet, cold, and hungry storming through the Hogwarts corridors on her way back from detention. This practice, Abe had made her chase Bludgers around; it was that or have them hit her. She was not in a good mood.

Sirius Black, however, liked to pop up at inopportune moments. Along with Potter and Pettigrew, Sirius Black was enchanting the sets of armor to accost anyone that walked by. However entertaining this was, it was nothing to sparring wits with Angelina Lestrange.

"What happened to you? You look like a drowned rat," Potter remarked with an expression bordering on a sneer playing across his face. The relationship between Angelina and Potter had not improved since their first encounter, and it did not help matters that Potter was Abe Aclebe's clear favorite while Angelina considered the flying instructor something close to her nemesis.

"Abe," Angelina replied. She didn't have the energy to form a witty response. The only thing she wanted to do was sneak into the Prefects' bathroom and take a nice long bath.

Potter had no wish to accommodate her. "So is the little Angel spreading her wings and flying?"

"You really need to think of something more creative, four eyes. The Angel joke's getting old. Now move. I have better things to do than sit around trading plebian comments with you."

"What, you have a date with dear old Snivellus?" Potter gabbed, sniggering. Pettigrew laughed too, but Black didn't find it amusing.

"I don't understand what you see in that greasy prat," Black bit out.

"It's none of your business, Black," Angelina responded just as nastily; she was starting to get chills and she didn't have time for the egotistical Black. "Don't you ever go away?"

"Nope. It's all part of this lovable package."

"Is the package returnable?"

"No. It's specially for you."

"Well, I prefer jewelry."

"Really?"

Shrugging, Angelina sighed and continued, "Can I go now?"

"None of us are stopping you," Potter grinned.

Angelina stepped forward along the corridor only to be surrounded by the suits of armor.

"Only the armor," Potter finished. Pettigrew found this the most hilarious thing he had ever heard.

The trio practically skipped away down the hall.

Angelina fumed. She hit the statues with various spells. None seemed to work.

"There you are!"

It was Emma. Angelina sighed; she wished it was Severus. He'd know how to get her out.

"Oh, did those horrible marauding Gryffindors do this?"

"Do you have any ideas to get me out?" Angelina barked, not wanting to dwell on the fact that the trio had gotten the better of her.

Emma looked pensive. "I'm not sure. . . Do you think the jelly legs curse would work?"

"Might," Angelina replied doubtfully. She had tried very advanced spells; she was certain such a simple charm wouldn't work. However, it did. Within minutes, Angelina and Emma were on their way to their dormitory.

"Thanks," Angelina muttered as they entered the common room, before fleeing to the bathroom to get out of her rain-laden clothes.

Abe's detentions continued to pile up; between that, the increasingly large amount of homework that first years had been assigned, and the extra credit project she had decided to take on for Potions, even Angelina was starting to feel the pressure of the schoolwork. Especially since Angelina considered anything less than full points unacceptable. That was why Sunday evening found Angelina in the library dictating to her quill after another horrid flying lesson.

She was, as always, very absorbed in her work, but even she couldn't ignore it when drops of water started hitting the page, and Angelina looked up. Emma stood there, dripping wet with a rain cloud floating above her head, drenching her with icy water.

"Who did this to you?" Angelina cried after a shocked moment of staring. She was surprised at how angry she was about Emma's curse. It was then that it hit her: Emma was actually her i _friend_ /i . Angelina had no time to dwell on this discovery, however, as her friend was still suffering the effects of the curse, and she immediately rose to start searching the library shelves for an appropriate book of counter curses.

"B-B-Black an-and P-Pot-ttter," Emma stammered, her teeth chattering. "I-I've b-b-been look-kkkkk-iing everywwwwwhere for you."

"Why didn't you go to the nurse?"

"It-s agggainst the ruuuuules."

"Don't be thick, Pettigrew goes to her all the time. Most of my detentions are because of him."

"I'mmm notttttttt P-p-pet-t-t-grew."

"Of course you're not. He's nothing but a bloody idiot that's practically a squib. He should be a Hufflepuff. Oh, here it is," Angelina cried triumphantly when she found the counter curse, which would have earned a disapproving glare from the librarian if she were around. Luckily the librarian was lost in the recesses of the stacks locating an obscure book for a Ravenclaw seventh year, and did not hear Angelina (or see Emma, whose state she would certainly have objected to). Angelina quickly set about performing the counter-curse, and after a bit of wand waving and a few warming and drying charms, Emma was as good as new.

Then Angelina sat down to do some research on curses. Angelina considered few people to be her friends, and she did not take well to them being cursed. Black and Potter were going to pay dearly.

Angelina was not one to be out done. And Black and Potter had been annoyingly successful of late. She and Severus decided they needed to have a meeting to discuss the i _Despise Sirius Black Club_ /i , which had been modified to the i _Despise Sirius Black and James Potter and Their Sidekicks Club_ /i . The club now had three members: Angelina, Severus, and Emma, with the Lily as their consultant. Emma had put aside her fear of Severus for "the common good," although she made sure to sit as far away from him as possible.

Currently they were holding a meeting in an empty classroom. Severus, Angelina, and Emma were all in attendance.

"We could make another potion," Severus suggested.

"No, we need to make it stick," Angelina replied.

"We could hang their pants up in the great hall," Emma giggled.

"I am not touching Potter's panties," the Slytherin boy spat, disgusted.

"Sorry. I just thought—" Emma meekly mumbled, not looking at Severus.

"It doesn't matter; in order to do that we'd need to get into their bedroom," Angelina interfered.

"Why don't we sneak into their bedroom and make them tell us their secrets," Emma supplied hopefully.

"First off—" Angelina began, but Severus cut her off.

"Yeah. I like that."

"First off, do any of us even know where the Gryffindor common room is?" Angelina continued.

"No, but we could follow them," Severus countered, his mind already wheeling with schemes.

"I actually do know. Lily once had to fetch a book and she took me there. I didn't go in, but . . ."

"That's brilliant!" Severus exclaimed. His normally cool façade had evaporated when faced with the possibility of getting revenge.

"Well, what about the password?" Angelina observed practically.

"We can get inside help," Severus proclaimed. "Lily can open it for us!"

"I don't know; I don't want Lily to get into trouble. Still, we could ask her. She does hate Potter more than anyone," Emma announced. Then, glancing at Severus, amended it to, "Well, besides Severus."

"Okay, even i _if_ /i we manage to get into the common room, how are we going to get them to tell us their secrets? They don't just sit around talking about their deep dark inner fears. Otherwise they wouldn't be deep dark inner fears, they'd be public knowledge," Angelina pointed out, practical as ever.

"They are Gryffindors, they're a weird lot," the boy retorted.

"Not that weird," Angelina disagreed.

"What about the Imperius Curse or Veritasirum," Severus continued, his eyes shining with glee.

"That would be illegal!" Emma cried.

"Oh don't be such a fearful flobberworm. I'm sure there's a loophole. I was reading just the other day that in extreme cases of national security, Veritaserum is allowed."

Angelina had just opened her mouth to point out this wasn't quite a case of national security, when, to her surprise, Emma stood up to Severus.

"Well, as much as I want to get back at those Gryffindors, we can't do anything a bit illegal. Pettigrew, the filthy little squib, will rat us out. I, for one, am not getting expelled for the likes of him," Emma finished, looking surprised by her own daring.

"Alright," Severus conceded grudgingly.

"What about a boggart?" Angelina proposed.

Emma and Severus frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"What if we use a boggart to scare them? We could put it somewhere that they'll come across it and then they'll scream and run away crying. Or at least Pettigrew will; Potter and Black are less likely to cry. In any case, everyone will see."

"We'd need three, otherwise the boggart won't know what to change into," Severus interjected.

"Why don't we hide them in their Potions cauldrons?" Emma suggested.

"All right, but first we need to find three boggarts," Angelina stated, already heading to the library to research the best ways to capture boggarts.


	9. Chapter 9

**Snow on a Saturday**

Chapter Nine

"Come on! Come _on_! Wake-up already!" Emma shouted at Angelina. "It's _snowing_."

Angelina lifted one sleep laden eyelid to glare up at Emma. She tried to look threatening, but it came off looking like she was just having a hard time going to the bathroom.

"What do you want," She grunted, rolling over on her side, away from the chilly air pouring in from her open curtain. Just because she was friends with the girl didn't mean she wanted to be woken up early on a Saturday morning.

"It's snowing!" Emma squealed again, in an even higher octave than earlier – if that was possible.

"Yes, I believe you mentioned that before," Angelina retorted. "I still fail to see what it has to do with me being woken up, at . . ." Here Angelina glanced through the dim grey light of the room to the grandfather-clock. "Five-thirty!" She hissed menacingly at Emma, sitting up groggily and reaching for where her wand lay on her nightstand.

However, it wasn't there. Angelina looked confusedly around at Emma, to see her grinning cheekily back.

"Give it back," Angelina snapped, thrusting her downy covers off her and standing up.

"I don't have it - not on me. Come on, we're going sledding!" Emma shouted exuberantly, unfazed by Angelina's glare.

Without warning, Angelina launched herself at Emma, sending the two girls toppling to the ground. There they thrashed, as Angelina tried to pin down Emma to search her for her wand.

"Will you two keep it down! Some of us are trying to sleep," came the snappish reply from behind one of the curtains.

"You see – I'm not the only one that doesn't care about the snow . . . now where did you put my wand," Angelina hissed, from on top of Emma, who was pinned to the ground.

"Get dressed. I'll show you," Emma whispered back resignedly.

It was only once Angelina was fully bundled up in full outdoor attire that Emma led the way out of the room and down to the common room. Here she handed Angelina her wand, which had been lying on the fireplace mantle.

"Alright, now let's go sledding – if we hurry we'll have the grounds all to ourselves."

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. _I_ am not going anywhere. _You_ can go run around in the cold or whatever you want to do, but I'm going back up to bed." With that Angelina turned on her heels and headed upstairs. However, when she reached her room it was locked. Her roommates had decided they wanted a little piece and quiet.

"Alhohamora," she whispered at the lock. Nothing happened. She thought for a second before realizing she didn't know any other spells to unlock a door. Angelina frowned _Alhohamora_ had never failed her before, and now she couldn't get back to her bed. Or back to her books to research other opening spells.

Upset, Angelina stormed down stairs to glare at Emma, who was still standing by the couch.

"I'll just have you know I was planning on researching invisibility today, but thanks to you and your noisiness at ungodly hours of the morning, my books and bed are locked away from me."

"Oh, come on Angelina. It's Saturday – "

"Exactly, I should get to sleep in and read in the library. Not freeze to death in a blizzard."

"You can't do homework today! It's _snowing_. Anyway, we don't do invisibility 'til much later. That's not even homework."

"Your point _being_?"

"Come on. Let's have some fun. Later, we can even bewitch some snowballs to follow Edgecombe and her gang around," Emma cajoled, referring to the other Ravenclaw first year girls that had locked the door.

"Alright, but it's only because I don't trust you to do the charm properly," Angelina relented grudgingly.

"Whatever. Let's go."

With that Emma, giggling annoyingly with glee, pranced happily over to the portrait hole.

"It rarely snows in Forest Row," Emma commented, referring to the small town in East Sussex where she and her mother and step-father live. "But I love it. And when it does . . ." Here she paused dreamily, sighing contentedly as she hugged herself. "Chip takes me sledding. Mum makes us hot chocolate – she doesn't like the cold. It never snows in California. That's where she's from. It's in America."

"I _know_ that. How long has she lived in England?"

"Oh, a while. She came over to do a film."

"A what?"

"Oh, it's a muggle thing that – "

"Really, Emma why would I want to know about muggles."

"Anyway, Chip's English. So she stayed."

Chip was Emma's stepfather. She never talked about her father, but Angelina didn't pry. Emma never asked about Angelina's mother, and Angelina repaid the courtesy by doing the same with Emma's father.

Trying to steer the conversation to more comfortable topics as they walked down the stairs to the great hall Angelina asked, "Are you English then?"

"I was born here."

Angelina turned to enter the Great Hall, but Emma stopped her. "Come on I have something to show you."

"We're not eating?" Angelina questioned.

"No of course we are. It's the most important meal of the day!" But she refused to say any more, not that Angelina would beg.

They made their way downward until they reached a corridor lined with picture of fruit. Here Emma paused, inspecting the paintings.

"Now, when we get in you have to distract them. Ask for food or something. I don't know. We might need something more dramatic. Do you think you could pretend to faint?"

Angelina looked in confusion at Emma. "Distract who? It's just us."

"Well, when I turn this pear, we are going to be standing in the kitchens."

"Why are we going there instead of the Great Hall?"

"We need sleds, of course."

"And the kitchen has sleds?"

Angelina was getting more confused by the minute.

"Baking sheets."

"What?"

But before Angelina could ask anymore questions Emma was leaning forward, tickling a pear from the painting in front of them. Even more surprisingly the pear turned into a handle that Emma deafly turned to reveal the kitchen and hundreds of elves staring up at them.

It didn't take much acting for Angelina to collapse on the floor.


	10. Chapter 10

**Foes and Friends in the Forest **

Chapter Ten

As it turned out it had been totally unnecessary for Angelina to distract the house elves. Not only had the decoy not worked (besides sending FuFu into a fit of hysterics over Angelina's health), but once Emma was caught trying to nick the baking sheets and the two girls had explained their purpose, the house elves not only gave them the baking sheets, but also plied them with food.

Thus, several minutes later, Angelina and Emma were happily on their way with two baking sheets and a thermos of hot cocoa. Emma had explained that, in the absence of sleds, baking sheets would substitute perfectly. Angelina, who had never gone sledding in her life, decided to trust Emma's expertise on the matter.

"How'd you know where the kitchen was?" Angelina questioned as they made their way back to the Entrance Hall.

"Pettigrew," Emma said, her eyes sparkling with glee. "The little rodent can't go a full twelve hours between dinner and breakfast without food. Lily told me he's always sneaking out in the middle of the night."

Angelina still felt a slight sting of jealousy whenever Emma mentioned her Gryffindor friend, but she bit her tongue to refrain from voicing any criticisms of the girl reminding herself that Emma was a Mudblood too. Besides, she'd watched Lily in Charms and she wasn't half bad. She hadn't quite memorized the textbooks like Angelina had, but she'd outshone many of Angelina's fellow Ravenclaws, even those who had also memorized the text-book.

Lily was also brilliant at Potions. She was clearly intelligent, so Angelina, despite what she knew her father would say, could not help but feel a grudging respect for such a talented witch. After all, that's what really mattered.

Angelina pulled herself away from her musings on the Mudblood Gryffindor and back to Emma's account of how she found the kitchens.

"And," Emma continued, clearly having just given a vast amount of information about her espionage episode, most of which Angelina had missed while thinking about Lily Evans, "he led me right to the kitchens. Of course I couldn't go in, or he would have seen me. Otherwise I would have known how friendly the house elves are. I should have figured; the dim-wit wouldn't have been able to nick the food to save his life."

"Well done!" Angelina complimented. "We'll have to go on more explorations together – I've heard there's a secret passage that leads out of Hogwarts! Wouldn't that be brilliant?"

Emma's eyes gleamed with curiosity. "I wonder where it could be."

"I don't know, but we've got to figure it out before Black and Potter do," Angelina said while pulling up her hood and getting ready to face the outdoors by casting a warming charm on her boots.

"Why are you so obsessed with beating Black?" Emma questioned, tugging her scarf tightly around her neck and mouth.

"He's a prat," came the muffled reply from Angelina.

Emma felt the answer was a little more complicated than that, but she let the subject drop for now since they had just exited the warmth of the castle and were now standing in the freezing winds of the blizzard.

"Are you still sure you want to go sledding? We could wait for the storm to die down," Angelina yelled over a gust of winds. She received her answer only when Emma thrust one baking sheet at her and hopped on her own.

Soon the two girls were hurtling across the grounds. Angelina found that she was enjoying herself despite the cold. She laughed as her sheet slid faster and she went flying past Emma. Racing on, she saw the completely even patch of snow out to her left that showed where the lake lay underneath a blanket of snow. She positioned her body so that the sled would head more to the right and avoid the lake, as she didn't want to find herself slipping across thin ice. And she definitely didn't want to pay the giant squid a visit.

"I bet I can beat you!" Emma yelled, coming up next to Angelina as the two girls hopped off of their sleds to climb the next hill.

"To where?" Angelina challenged.

"Edge of the forest. No magic allowed."

"See you there!" Angelina called over her shoulder as she sprinted off.

Angelina was winning as she neared the forest. Her cheeks were burning with the cold and her lungs stung as she pelted up the next slope with Emma (who had led most of the race) close on her heels. Somewhere along the way her scarf had fallen off, but she was not about to slow down to look for it. A little ways away she could see the forest looming, dark and forbidden. Angelina smiled in triumph as she threw herself down on the sled and flew along the hill. Her eyes scanned the horizon in anticipation of reaching the finish. However, mid-hill Angelina threw herself to a stop, tumbling off her sled. Emma, who had been hot on her heels, collided with Angelina's baking sheet and slipped off her sled too.

"What–" Emma started to cry before Angelina cast a Silencing Charm on her friend, dragging her down behind a small mound of snow.

Emma looked confused and startled as Angelina touched a finger to her lips to indicate that Emma should be silent. When Emma nodded her head in assent, Angelina released the Silencing Charm and pointed downwards to the darkly cloaked figure who was just entering the forest.

"Slughorn," Emma whispered in confusion.

Angelina nodded, her eyes fixed on the waddling figure.

"What do you think he's doing?" Emma questioned again, her voice barely audible above the gusts of wind.

"I don't know," Angelina mused quietly.

"Do you think he's getting some potions ingredients?"

"In the middle of a blizzard?"

"No. I suppose not."

"Let's follow him," Angelina suggested.

"What? Into the forest? It's forbidden."

But Angelina wasn't listening; she was already sliding down the hill to the forest after the quickly disappearing professor.

Luckily, the snow kept Slughorn's footprints visible, and the two Ravenclaw girls were able to track him from a good distance. They continued through the forest, the trees grew thicker and taller as they went, making it darker.

"Lena," Emma whispered, her voice sounding loud in the unnatural silence of the forest, "let's go back. You look cold."

It was true. Now that they had stopped running, Angelina really missed her scarf. In fact, she was so cold her teeth were chattering uncontrollably.

"I'm fine," Angelina lied, her teeth chattering even more. She frowned at the ground. It was getting hard to track the footprints; they were almost covered with snow in the places where the snow had managed to fall through the trees or were absent where the snow was not on the ground.

Emma was about to say she was lying when a noise from behind them made the girls jump.

"What was that?" Emma squeaked.

"I don't know," Angelina admitted, her voice shaking even more as she drew out her wand.

"Let's go back," Emma urged as the two girls edged quietly back in the direction they had come.

Again the noise sounded, now from their right. Whatever it was, it was definitely moving toward them.

"I heard there are vampires in here," Emma moaned.

"Let's hope that's the worst of it," Angelina said, wishing her teeth would stop chattering so loudly as she held out her wand in the direction of the noise. Her hand was shaking.

The noise was now constant and coming at them with increasing speed.

The two girls, clutching at each other, had stopped moving. They were now shaking from more than just cold.

Suddenly, three dark shapes burst from a bush. There were shouts of "_stupefy!"_.

The voices were not just Angelina and Emma's. Angelina recognized them, and in a flash of red she saw the face of Sirius Black.

"Black?" she called, almost in disbelief.

"Angelina?"

"Lestrange?" came the voice of Potter.

"Potter."

"Lumos," Emma whispered from beside her.

The area lit up, and there stood Black, Potter, and Pettigrew.

"What are you three doing here?" Angelina demanded.

"We could ask you the very same thing," replied Black.

"We asked first," Emma told him.

"Alright," Potter said. "We were looking for you."

"No you weren't."

"Really? Well what were you two doing?"

"Looking for unicorns," Angelina lied.

"Looking for unicorns in the middle of a blizzard?" Black repeated skeptically.

"Ye-ye-ye-s-s-s-s," Angelina chattered.

"You're freezing," Black stated. "Where's your bloody hat? Have you lost your mind? It's freezing out here, Angelina," he reprimanded.

"Thanks, Black," Angelina snapped. "I hadn't noticed."

"Come on, you girls need to get warmed up."

"Pettigrew doesn't look that great either," Angelina retorted.

"Yeah, I think we all better go back, Sirius," Potter recommended.

Black looked like he wanted to stay, but after glancing around said, "Alright; Peter does look frozen."

"Oh, good I thought we were going to continue looking for Remus all day," Peter said happily as the group trudged back in the direction of Hogwarts. "Ow, what did you step on my foot for James?"

"You were looking for Remus?" Emma said quickly.

"Uh, yeah. Playing hide-and-go seek. You know," Black supplied.

"And you're just going to leave him out here?"

"Well . . . he must have gone back to the castle because he was sick. He's probably in the hospital wing."

"He was playing hide and seek in the blizzard when he was sick?" Emma said skeptically.

"No stranger than looking for a unicorn."

He had a point there, so Emma shut up. Angelina was too cold to really care what the boys had been up to, though she suspected it was probably to prepare for some prank or something. Now that she was no longer on a mission to discover what Professor Slughorn was up to, the trek through the forest seemed longer. Her toes felt frozen.

"Come on," Black said to Potter, veering off slightly to the right. "Let's stop by Hagrid's to warm up before we head up to the castle. Maybe he can lend Angelina a hat."

Angelina didn't even bother denying that she needed a hat. She was so cold by now that she didn't care what "Hagrid's" was as long as it warm. Emma, however, did.

"What's 'Hagrid's?' I didn't think there were any stores on the Hogwarts grounds."

"It's not a store. He's the Gamekeeper," Potter explained.

"We just can't let him see that we're coming out of the forest or he'll give us a lecture," Black warned.

"I wonder if he'll have anything to eat?" Pettigrew voiced.

It turned out Hagrid did have something to eat, but only if your teeth were boulders. His rock cakes were harder than most rocks, but the clotted cream was good and so was the hot tea. Once Angelina was sufficiently warm, she took advantage of Hagrid's knowledge of the Forbidden Forest to ask him a few questions.

"Hagrid, what would someone want in the Forbidden Forest?"

"All sorts of stuff really," Hagrid answered. "Depends what kind of person he is."

"What's in there that someone would risk going there when there's a blizzard?" Angelina pressed. The Gryffindor boys' attentions were on Fang as Potter tried to teach the dog to play dead.

"Well, I'd only be guessing, but I'd think it would be something secretive. Something we wouldn't want anyone to see him get. That's why he'd go out when no ones about," Hagrid mused as he poured Emma some more tea. Then he looked up sharply, "You didn't see someone going out there this morning, did you? It'd be deathly out there for more than an hour, and a lot of people get lost if they don't know the place well."

"Oh, no," Angelina quickly lied. "I was just curious about what kind of beasts are out there."

That was all the invitation Hagrid needed to launch into a long discussion on the beasts of the Forbidden Forests. It was only when Emma said that they better get back to the castle to study that Hagrid let them go with an invitation to come back whenever they wished.

"Poor Hagrid," Emma sighed as she and Angelina entered the Ravenclaw common room. "He seems so lonely down there all by himself. I wonder what happened that made him decide to be a Gamekeeper. He can't be very old, and he's not a squib like Filch. I wonder . . ." Emma trailed off in thought and Angelina went up stairs to retrieve her books on invisibility. The two of them spent a pleasant evening in the warmth of the Ravenclaw common room pouring over books.

Angelina's determination to learn to become invisible renewed with the morning's episode. She had not forgotten about Slughorn, and was determined to figure out what a comfort-seeking person like him had been doing trudging into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of a blizzard.


	11. Chapter 11

**Home for the Holidays **

Chapter Eleven

It was the train ride home for Christmas. Again Angelina and Severus sat sharing a compartment. Emma had gone off to swap Chocolate Frog Cards, and Angelina and Severus, neither of whom collected, had remained in the compartment to read. They sat in content silence; each absorbed in their own book until a nock on the door brook their peace.

"Is this seat taken?"

Angelina and Severus turned their attention to the intruder. Angelina raised a delicately arched eyebrow looking at the boy standing in the doorway.

"All the other compartments are taken," He explained. "Or have Mudbloods."

Angelina felt an odd sort of resentment at the use of the term Mudbloods. But reminded herself that it was just Emma talking when she said it was offensive – everyone Angelina knew said Mudblood. Clearly Emma just didn't yet know how the Wizarding world worked.

"Oh, come in Dolohov. This is Angelina Lestrange. Lena this is Jerold Dolohov. He is in Slytherin," Severus said in introduction.

"Lestrange? Are you Rodolphus little sister?"

"Yes," Angelina responded in a tone that discouraged questions.

The boy was obviously thick as he proceeded to ask, "Why aren't you in Slytherin?"

"What's it to you if she isn't," Severus intervened. Dolohov cast a frightened look at Severus's wand.

"No-Nothing, just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat," Angelina retorted, amused by the boy's fear.

"Mind if we join this little party," drawled a voice from the door.

In stepped Rodolphus Lestrange followed by two other fifth years.

"Hello, Snape. Dolohov," Rodolphus greeted, ignoring his sister. "You both know Rowle and Nott, right?"

Dolohov made a strangled noise Angelina assumed was a 'yes.' Severus just nodded.

"I hear your family is throwing the Christmas party this year Dolohov."

"Y-Y-Yes," the boy stammered. He was clearly terrified of his older housemates. Angelina was disguised. How could a spineless idiot like Dolohov get into Slytherin, while she had only gotten into Ravenclaw? The hat was obviously nutters.

"I bet the Blacks don't come. Their son is a Gryffindor. If that were _me_ I wouldn't want to be seen in public. Especially with the Blood-Traitor."

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, Lestrange. Your sister was put in Ravenclaw," drawled a voice from the corridor.

"Keep your mouth shut about my sister, Rookwood."

However, before either boy could reach for their wands, a spell shot out of Severus'. A needle started stitching the offender's mouth. Rookwood's gasps of pain were muffled, as his mouth was sealed closed by stitches.

"Yuohlouhpmaweyphouruhthu. Lusustrunj. Snoup." Rookwood mumbled glaring daggers at the Severus and Angelina before slamming the compartment door shut behind him, shattering the glass. Waving her wand Angelina repaired the door, glared around the room, and went back to her book.

Severus smirked. The rest of the boys, including her brother, looked stunned. Dolohov was more than stunned – he had wet himself with fright.

Angelina had only been home three days and she already wished she was back at Hogwarts.

Currently she was curled up in a small ball in her hug canopy bed. The room did not really feel as though it was hers, as she had never really lived in her family's country residence. When she had visited her father and brothers in England it was mostly during the summer time when they were at their summer house by the Sea. Otherwise she had lived in France . . . with her mother.

It was her mother that was currently plaguing Angelina's thoughts. Or more precisely her mother's death.

Generally Angelina managed to keep these thoughts at bay, but this evening while attending the Black's annual Christmas Eve Party, which despite Rodolphus' predictions to the contrary had turned out to be as much ado as usual, the subject of her mother's death had arisen.

As normal, as soon as she had thanked Mrs. Black for inviting her, Angelina had gone up stairs away from the party to find Andramita. For, although Narcissa and Angelina might be closer in age, Angelina and Andramita had always gotten along better.

Angelina had found Andramita as usual in the library. Both girls were much more comfortable reading then making polite chit-chat.

"Happy Christmas," Angelina greeted as she walked in the room, drawing Andramita's attention away from the book on her lap and to the little girl standing in the doorway.

"Lena!" Was the enthusiastic greeting the older girl cried as she rushed across the room to envelope a startled Angelina in a hug.

"I hear congratulations are in order," Angelina laughed when the two had finally pulled apart. "Your aunt told me you're engaged."

"Mother hopes so. He's a good match. It would strengthen my family's influence in France," Andramita recited starkly, giving Angelina a small smile that was meant to be reassuring but came off as heart-breaking.

"I'm sorry," Angelina whispered. There was nothing further that needed to be said, both understood.

Sitting down and crossing her feet, Angelina sighed.

Wishing to move to safer waters Andramita said, "What are you planning to wear tomorrow?"

The younger girl shrugged delicately.

"You?"

"Well I visited Paris before I came back I bought . . ." Andramita trailed off as the blood drained from the younger girl's face. "Oh, Angelina I'm so sorry."

"It's nothing. Please continue I would like to hear about Paris. Did you stop by Dominique's?"

"I was only there for a day, I didn't have time. Why don't you owl her?"

"What would I say?" Angelina paused before continuing. "She was more your friend than mine. Anyways, I doubt her mother would even allow her to respond. They all know it wasn't an accident."

"Lena," Angramita said, looking stricken. "You don't know that. You can't listen to what those gossips say."

But Angelina did know. Her mother had committed suicide.

It sure hadn't been an accident. Her mother might have dealt a great deal with experimental charms and curses, but she hadn't been stupid.

No, Angelina thought as she lay in bed. Her mother had been many things but she hadn't been stupid.


	12. Chapter 12

**Startling Surprises**

Chapter Twelve

Christmas day dawned wet and cold. The snow that had been predicted had turned out to be a steady drizzle that froze on the roads and trees.

The Lestrange Chateau was rather dour. Rabastan had decided to stay at Durmstrang over the holidays, and Rodolphus was spending it at Bode's Abode in London, although he would be present at the party that evening. Mr. Lestrange was locked away in his private quarters.

Angelina decided to celebrate Christmas in the Blue Room as it was the most cheery of the rooms in the fortress. The part of the castle the Blue Room was in dated back to medieval times when the building had served as a stronghold for the family to evacuate to in times of trouble. With its magical barriers and sheer structural magnitude the Lestrange Chateau had withstood many a Wizarding and Muggle battle. And while its architecture was no doubt ideal for war time, it did not particularly lend itself to brighter occasions.

However, the house elves had done their best to make the Blue Room as cheerful as possible. They had slaved the whole night to infuse the room with a bit of holiday festivity. And they hadn't all together failed.

At least the portraits of Muggle torture that had previously decorated the walls had been taken down and replaced with strands of evergreen that glittered with white fairy lights glowing on their branches. A beautiful tree, that must have taken them hours to decorate, stood glowing in a corner next the crackling fire. And the gargoyles on the mantle, that use to scare Angelina as a child, had been given merry red hats that almost made their barred teeth look like smiles rather than snarls.

Best of all they had laid a beautiful pile of presents under the tree. Angelina knew her father had sent an elf out to get them for her, but still it was nice. Only poor people said it was the thought that counted, Angelina reminded herself. The wealthy knew better; money could solve anything according to her father. Anyway, she had Chloe and Twinkle to celebrate the holiday with.

"Would you like to pull a cracker?" Angelina asked Twinkle gesturing towards the bowl of cracker that had been placed on the table in front of the couch. Next to them sat a large glittering hat and some crumpled wrapping paper.

"Oh, no Miss Angelina. You know how those things scary me," Twinkle declared with a shiver.

Angelina tossed the cracker back in the bowl with the rest, sighed, glanced at the clock, and slumped back against the couch and dispassionately picking up a book that lay beside her. She gazed in disinterest down at the letters, but did not try to read.

"Miss should not slouch so. It will make Miss humpbacked," Twinkle reprimanded with the authority that comes with having changed someone's dippers. She had been Angelina's nursemaid when Angelina was a baby living in England. And while Twinkle had not gone to France with the Mistress; she _had_ sent her daughter, Tinky, to look after the Little Miss. Tinky had killed herself after witnessing the Mistress' suicide. And Miss Angelina had come back to England, where it was Twinkle's job to once more take care of her.

"Oh, don't nag Twinkle," Angelina said, but she sat up straighter all the same.

"And," Twinkle continued. "If Miss doesn't stop stalling she will be more than just stylishly late for the party. Yes, she will. Then Twinkle will never be hearing the end of it from Master Lestrange."

"Alright, alright," Angelina grumbled. "I'm going, but I'm not wearing that ridiculous hat."

She stated pointing to the glittering gold hat that lay at the end of the table.

"Oh, yes Miss will," squeaked Twinkle. "Master Lestrange is giving Miss that as her Christmas present, and Miss is to wear it. Whether Miss Angelina likes it or not."

Angelina glowered down at Twinkle, but the old house elf who had raised two Lestrange children already just clicked her figures two times and the hat came twirling through the air and landed with a gentle plop on Angelina's head.

"Alright, but I'm taking it off as soon as I get there," Angelina grumbled.

Twinkle ignored that and chirped "Come here. Since Miss is going to have to take the Floo, she will be needing protection."

After casting a protective charm on Angelina so that she would not mess up her appearance while traveling, the house-elf then shoved her mistress over to the fire.

Picking up a parcel from atop the mantel Angelina turned to face the fire as Twinkle fished in the many pockets of hot pad that made up her apron for the Floo Powder. Angelina sighed. She disliked using the Floo Network as it was both unstylish and messy. However, there was no one for her to Apparate along side of, and Apparition was a magical activity very closely monitored. And very dangerous. Even purebloods did not attempt to break the underage law for this.

"Is Miss ready?" Twinkle demanded as she produced a bottle of Floo Powder. Angelina nodded and soon she was stepping into the green flames and hurtling off to London.

She came out in the Floo Room, a room most well to do Wizards had as there was a certain amount of ash and smoke that came along with that sort of travel. Angelina had arrived late enough that the room was deserted. She pulled off the ridiculous hat and stashed it behind a cluster of coats. Angelina took a few minutes to tidy herself up by the looking glass for no matter what Twinkle did her hair always seemed to be in a disarray after Flooing.

"You look charming," the mirror complimented, which Angelina assumed it was under orders to do.

She glance once more around the room, noticing snobbishly that mantel was not made out of true marble but simply a cheap synthetic material; threw her reflection one last piercing gaze (to which the mirror replied "lovely") and exited.

Dolohov's house was a stark contrast to the Lestrange's. Warm and cheery it was full of people. Angelina saw the boy from the train whom Severus had introduced as Jerold. At the moment he was being praise by a doting plump woman Angelina assumed must be his mother, Mrs. Dolohov.

She made a quick stop by Mr. or Mrs. Dolohov thanking them for inviting her, telling them some conventional something about how lovely their party was, apologizing that her father could not make it, and delivering her family's present.

"And there's a table full of treats and sweats over in the next room." Mrs. Dolohov told Angelina motioning down the hall. "That's where most of the children are. Feel free to wander about, but stay on the ground floor. That's where the party is, and Mr. Dolohov has some nasty security charms on the stairs—in case of burglars. We wouldn't want you to spend your holiday in Saint Mungo's."

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Dolohov," Angelina intoned respectfully.

"Well off you go, and tell your father it was so nice of him to give us that bottle of wine. Mr. Dolohov is quite an avid collector of fine wine."

With that Angelina hurried away before Mrs. Dolohov trapped her in a long conversation on wine. She quickly made her way through the crowed of adults trying to find Severus. He hadn't said he was coming, but most families did. However, she couldn't find him. Instead she ran into the last person she had expected to see.

She was standing of in a corner, pulling nervously at the sleeve of her dress: Emma. When she saw Angelina she smiled.

"I thought you might be here. My aunt said your family had been invited."

Angelina stared blankly. "What _are_ you doing here? They'll hurt you if they find out what you are. Come on I've got to get you out of here. Don't you know these people _hate_ Muggles." Angelina panicked as she grabbed hold of Emma's arm. "You didn't bring your mother did you?" Angelina asked looking franticly about.

"Calm down, Lena. Mum's at home with Chip. I'm here with my dad's family. My aunt insisted I come. It is not wise to . . . well." Emma paused. "I brought you a present."

Angelina took it but didn't open it. She felt as if she had just been Confunded. All she could do was state the obvious. "I thought you were a Mud – "

"A muggle-born?" Emma cut in. "No. My mum was a muggle. I grew up with her. My father and her fell madly in love when they were kids . . . but well it was a bit of star-crossed lovers. They divorced when I was two; it was a terrible sandal."

"Why'd she stay here? I mean, why didn't she go back to America?"

"Chip. He was her director, on stage. And he's English . . . so."

"If you family lives here, why don't you live with your father."

"They weren't sure I'd be a witch. And my dad's career, well he couldn't have a 'Squib.' That is the right word, isn't it?"

Angelina just nodded doubly.

"But when I got my letter . . . well now my dad's family thinks it best if they introduce me to the Wizarding world. My dad's very busy with his career, so I mainly stay with my aunt. She always wanted a daughter, and she only got one son."

"Who's your aunt's family?"

"The Malfoys."

"You're related to Lucius Malfoy!"

"Yeah, he's my cousin," Emma said nonchalantly.

"Well, why aren't you in Slytherin."

"Only my aunt was in Slytherin. My father was a Gryffindor. He was a little disappointed that I was in Ravenclaw. But it wasn't unexpected – a lot were."

"Why didn't you tell me all this before?" Angelina snared. Now that the information was sinking in, she was angry and a little hurt that Emma hadn't told her.

"You never asked," Emma snapped back in defense.

"And you just let me make a fool out of myself. Having a good laugh with everyone else behind my back."

Angelina was really mad now.

"I never even told anyone," Emma fired back.

"I can't believe I thought you were my friend," she bit out without thinking.

"Oh, I was your friend, was I? I thought Mudbloods couldn't be friends with the mighty Angelina Lestrange, who has a name going back all the way to the Gold Book," Emma growled, throwing Angelina's words back in her face.

"Well, maybe you're right. Here," Angelina spat, shoving the present back at Emma.

"You know what your problem is, Lena? You just always think you know everything, don't you."

"Well, you never thought about them. All I ever saw was you and your mother. There wasn't any thoughts about– " Angelina suddenly dropped off, the blood draining from her face.

"What do you mean never 'thought.'" Emma's voice was much lower now.

"Oh, nothing. It just came out wrong is all," Angelina muttered, trying to step away.

"No, I don't think so," Emma countered, stepping in front of Angelina, blocking her way.

"Well, that hardly matters. Now, will you let me get by?"

"No. You read my mind," Emma accused raising her voice.

"Will you shut up," Angelina hissed, dragging Emma further into the corner.

"You can read minds," Emma repeated dumbly.

Angelina looked frantically around, but it didn't appear anyone had heard. Grabbing Emma's hand Angelina dragged her down the hall and into the nearest empty room. It was the Floo Room. She pulled Emma behind a rack of coats. It was not until she had cast a silencing charm around them that Angelina whispered, "It's not really mind reading. Well, at least not like a book. I don't just flip through the pages and find answers. I don't get to pick."

"Huh?"

"It's like walking by someone who is humming. You don't pick what their humming, you just hear it. It's the same with me and minds. Well, I don't necessarily 'hear.' Sometimes it's words, other times it's more like images. It's like sometimes I pick up what someone is thinking about. Usually their really nervous or sad . . . or angry. Just emotional."

"So you can't control it?"

"Well, not really. I just found a book on it in my family's library. There's this thing called Occlumency. It helps me block it. Otherwise I'm an open unit, I can pick up others thoughts . . . but well it would be really easy for someone to do the same to me. I even absorb poisons and probably a lot of other nasty stuff."

"Is that why you fainted the first day of classes?"

"Yeah. It turns out that, according to this book, people can build up their ability to read-minds to a point where they can look for certain bits of information. But it's really dangerous, if its just happening naturally. According to the book there are two types of Legilimens: those that have to learn it and those that it just happens 'naturally' for. If it happens 'naturally' it's really volatile because the more you're able to receive the more open and vulnerable you are. The book recommends not searching specifically for things, as the more you search the more vulnerable you become."

"But _you_ can't find out certain things."

"No, not without a wand. If you know what you're doing you can use a spell and well . . . I don't know. I'm still reading."

"So, well . . . how long have you been able to . . ."

"Oh, always."

"So your parents know."

"No. Not my father. My mother knew. But you can't tell people."

"Why not?"

"It's not something normal. I mean it's not a common ability, even among wizards and witches. It's thought of as, if not a dark art, something not to be messed with. It's too invasive. If people knew I could . . . without a spell . . . You can't tell anyone, Emma. No one."

"No. I promise. I won't."

Angelina smiled shakily. "Well, I suppose you weren't the only one with a secret."

"I'm sorry for not telling you."

"I'm sorry for being so mean. It's just . . . I didn't want my family to think I was a Blood-Traitor. Why didn't you tell me about your family before? I wouldn't have had to pretend to dislike you."

"I don't know. I guess I didn't want you to like me just because I wasn't a muggle-born. I wanted us to be friends."

"Well I wouldn't mind. If you want. It's nice having someone who knows, although I think the sorting hat guessed, and maybe even Madam Pomfrey. I've never talked about it. Do you think we can share things like this? You know, talk about things important to us."

Angelina had never had anyone she could trust before, and the thought that she knew someone now was rather heady. She felt as if she had just drunk a whole lot of Butterbeer.

"I'd like that," Emma said smiling. "Here, you never opened my present." Emma handed over the brightly rapped parcel.

"Oh." Angelina looked down at her hands. "Uh, I didn't bring a present for you . . ."

"Go ahead and open it."

"Sure. Thanks."

"You haven't even seen it. It could be bubotuber pus for all you know."

Angelina smiled, "You wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't I? You should ask Potter and Black what they got for Christmas. I co-signed your name. I hope you won't mind."

Angelina laughed out loud and hugged Emma. Emma looked slightly startled before hugging Angelina back.

"Thanks," Angelina whispered, and she wasn't referring to the present. It was nice – this friend thing.


	13. Chapter 13

_Dear Readers: I am writing to request that you please leave a short review after reading this chapter. I know my story is getting hits, and not just the first chapter. If you are reading this I beg you to take a few seconds and leave me your thoughts on these chapters. This will allow my to improve the story by knowing what you like and what you feel still needs work. Even the shortest review gives me extreme pleasure and encourages me to keep writing. _

**Peculiar Proceedings**

Chapter 13

It was, without a doubt, the most exciting Christmas Angelina had ever had.

She signed in contentment as she riffled through the top drawer of her dresser. It was in there somewhere, she remembered placing it there when she had helped Twinkle unpack her truck on her first day back from Hogwarts. Having emptied her drawer of all its socks she tapped the bottom of the drawer with her wand tip and whispered the password. Silently the false bottom of the drawer melted away to reveal the hidden compartment beneath. There was nothing of real secrecy there, just a couple of trinkets and souvenirs: A small book with collection of stories from Prague, a leaf of a manuscript that detailed the beauty secrets of Cleopatra, a silk scarf that disappear when worn and reappear when taken off, a gold coin from Romania, a miniature of the Eiffel tower, and a few other odds and end.

She picked up a set of Tarot cards from underneath a postcard of the Parthenon that her mother had sent her from one of her many trips. Angelina spread the Tarot cards out on her bed searching until she found the card that did not belong. It was not a Tarot card like the rest of the deck, but rather a Chocolate Frog Card. The card was of Alberic Grunnion, the one she had stolen from her brother all those many months ago on her first trip to Hogwarts. At the time she had decided to sell it, as she did not collect then. And although she still did not, she now had a better use for the card.

She had a friend to send the card to. Angelina beamed as she glanced over her shoulder at the handsome leather bound book laying on her nightstand. It was a collectors' item, only 100 copies had been made and in it lay the secrets of many of the greatest magical achievements in history-among which there was a whole hundred pages dedicated to invisibility.

"It's to make up for the Saturday I took you out sledding, instead of allowing you to research invisibility. I'm sure you'll be able to find all you need to know on the subject and more in this book," Emma had explained when Angelina had, with slightly trembling hands, removed the rapping.

Angelina's gush of gratitude had been cut short, however, as at that moment the fireplace filled with green flame and several adults stepped out into the Floo Room.

"Well, do you bring any news from abroad?" A voice had boomed barely before the group had even entered.

Emma, who had been about to move from behind the rack of coats, stopped, and glanced at Angelina. The two exchanged looks, silently agreeing to stay and hear this "news from abroad." Angelina had long sense learned that one often discovered a great deal more from listening to adults than asking them anything.

"Be patient," came a second voice. "We must be careful of prying ears. Not all approve of our goals."

"The idiots," a third voice hissed in derision.

"I agree," The second voice said after casting the room in a silencing spell, but not bothering with anything else as it was the house of a fellow sympathizer after all. Luckily for Angelina and Emma this meant they could still eavesdrop. "But we cannot be too careful. Our Lord says that we are not yet to reveal our full force."

"Why does he wait?" The first voice asked sounding frustrated. "We should strike now. The time has come. I am sick of waiting and creeping around as if I were doing something wrong. It is–"

"Do you doubt the Dark Lord?" The third voice cried in outrage. "The most powerful of all wizards; he who is greater and more powerful than you could ever be. Who has attained things you could not even dream of!"

"You know I didn't mean it like that Bellatrix," the first voice wined, cowering in fear. "I am his Lords faithful servant. I only meant that . . . I was simply saying . . . It's just . . ."

"You are an idiot, Rosier, to question Lord Voldimort, the conqueror of Death," Bellatrix spat derisively venom in her voice.

"So it's true," the second voice whispered. "He has truly conquered death? He has gained immortality?"

"Yes," Bellatrix answered. "The Dark Lord has not been idle while he has been away."

"But now that he has gained immortality, will he return? Will he lead us to victory? It is time that the balance was restored," the second stated his voice growing passionate.

The first voice, Avory, made as if to speak, but Bellatrix cut in.

"The Dark Lord has sent me back to build up his force in England. We need more Death Eaters before we can act. There are many who sympathize with our cause–we must recruit them. Many of them are at this very party; tonight will be a perfect opportunity."

"We should go," the second voice commented. "We are already late for the party."

"Yes, and be sure to tell your friends," Bellatrix reminded as they stepped towards the door. "The Death Eaters will rule when the Dark Lord rises to power."

And with that the group dismissed their protective barriers and went to join the party, leaving a shocked Angelina and Emma crouched behind a large bookshelf.

Angelina rose moving over to the pair of leather chairs clustered in a corner of the Floo Room, her arms clutching the large leather book to her chest as a young child might hold a beloved teddy bear for comfort. Emma followed, collapsing in the chair next to Angelina. They sat in silence for a little while degusting what they had just heard.

"Whoever this bloke is, he's hardly original. I mean 'the Dark Lord,' how clichéd is that?" Angelina said flippantly, breaking the silence. "Who goes around calling himself the Dark Lord?"

"Well, he did conquer death," Emma pointed out.

"Did he? I wonder . . ." Angelina whispered pensively more to herself than anyone else. "It could be more of a rallying point than actual fact. It's been a common enough ploy throughout history because who's going to oppose someone who can't be killed? But no one's ever _really_ done it yet. Conquer death, that is. Immortality is impossible. Death is just part of life, and really who would _want_ to go on living forever. Postponement is possible, but even Ignotus Peverell didn't live forever."

"Ignotus Peverell?"

"Oh, he's just a mythical man who outsmarted Death. He asked Death for a cloak of invisibility so that even Death could not find him."

"Does such a thing exist?" Emma questioned, intrigued.

"There's no evidence of it."

"Well, what about the Philosopher's Stone?"

"If you mean have people succeeded in making it, then yes. But only a very few. And even _if_ this 'Dark Lord' has; it doesn't make him immortal. It simply stoppers death while the person drinks it, and it doesn't protect against the Killing Curse. But I suppose if one uses the word 'immortal' loosely . . ." Angelina trailed of lost in her own musings on the qualifications of "immortality."

"Well, what else could it be?" Emma asked recalling Angelina to the present.

"I don't know," She admitted frowning. "But it's hardly the main point of the matter anyway. It's clear these 'Death Eaters,' or whatever absurd name their calling themselves by, believe that he is. I mean to listen to Bellatrix you would think this Lord Moldywart had learnt to walk on water or something."

"Like conquer death?" Emma quipped.

"Anyway, their planning something. I think they're going to take over the Ministry. You heard what they were saying about the Death Eaters ruling when the Big Fungus returned from wherever he's been vacationing'"

"Why would they want to take over the Ministry."

"I don't know, one of them said something about 'restoring the natural order of things,' but what that means . . ."

The two girls trailed of into thought. Angelina had a nagging suspicion that she did know what "restoring the natural order meant." She had heard both her parents use such phrases when talking about "those filthy Mudbloods" and "ignorant muggles." Angelina only hoped she was wrong as she glanced over at Emma, who was frowning deep in thought.

"Why don't we looking in the book and see if it has anything on Immortality."

"Yeah," Emma agreed looking a little brighter.

But Angelina had just flipped open the book and was perusing the table of contents when the door burst open again. This time it was not a group of Dark wizards looking to discuss their master. It was something much worse.

"Emma!" Called a woman's voice. "Are you in here?"

Emma groaned silently and mouth "my aunt" to Angelina.

"We've back her," she called her hands reaching subconsciously up to comb her hair and then down to smooth her skirt.

"There you are," Her aunt cried in exasperation. "Oh and you must be Angelina. Happy Christmas. I hope you like the book; Emma spent hours picking it out."

Emma blushed at this.

"It's brilliant. Thank you very much," Angelina responded politely.

"Emma, why don't you and Angelina come out to the party—it's the polite thing to do, you know. Not sulk in here with that book. You Ravenclaws, impossible to extract form your books even during the winter holidays," Mrs. Malfoy rebuked sternly, but not totally unkindly. "Come on Emma, you can introduce Angelina to Lucius and his friends."

The girls dutifully followed Mrs. Malfoy to greet the rest of the Malfoy family. And despite having just overheard a plot to take over the Wizarding world, Angelina had felt surprisingly cheerful. Maybe it was the mulled mead, or perhaps it was just having a friend to stand beside, but the evening had past in a pleasant blur.

A faint hooting sound recalled Angelina to the present.

Smiling slightly, she looked down at her hands and realized she had finished rapping the parcel. Tabby, a distinguished looking barn owl, was standing next to it looking ready to be off.

"All right, all right," Angelina appeased the owl as she tied the parcel to Tabby's foot. "Take this to Emma Hope."

She instructed as she opened the slit like window. A gust of cold air blew into the room accompanied by a few snow flakes and a moment later a light grey owl had squeezed itself through the slot. Tabby only glanced briefly at this new arrival before taking off.

Angelina moved quickly over to the owl as Chloe was eyeing the new bird appraisingly from edge of the bed. The owl was standing perfectly still with a glittering gold package sparkling in the glow from the single candle on Angelina's nightstand. No sooner had Angelina loosed the tie, but the bird flew off gracefully, soaring into the cold Christmas sky and out of sight.

Curiously Angelina pulled loss the white bow and drew off the gold lid of the box to reveal soft white tissue paper. Carefully unfolding it she looked in awe at the diamond necklace sparkling subdued in its box. A tiny cream card lay on top of the box. Angelina reached for it carefully avoiding touching the diamonds, she turned the card over to see who this generous gift was from. All the card said was: With Love.


	14. Chapter 14

**Fair and Foul**

Chapter 14

Angelina returned to Hogwarts with more than she'd had when she left. There was, of course, the usual addition of Christmas presents as well as a few books on Occlumency from her father's library. But her trunk held more than the standard items students packed, for deep in the recesses of her trunk, laying next to the gold box with the diamond necklace, was a small chest with a large lock, in which an angry boggart struggled to escape.

This brought the total number of boggarts that the members of D.A.G. (Despisers of Arrogant Gryffindors) had collected up to two (the first of which was stored under Snape's bed). Angelina shared this news with the other members of D.A.G. at dinner on the Sunday before the start of term.

"Great," Snape said as he rose from the table. "I have to be off; I've not finished all my work yet."

Angelina frowned and glanced up at Severus in confusion; he was usually the first to start his assignments. For a second she thought about trying to probe his thoughts, but decided against it when she remembered the dangers the book had warned of.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," She said, but Severus was already half-way across the room. She turned back to Emma who was still finishing off her pudding.

"Did you have a good rest of the holiday?" Emma asked, and after glancing around added in a lower voice. "You didn't learn anything more about the Big Fungus."

The Big Fungus was their code name for the Dark Lord, Moldiwort.

"No nothing."

"Oh," Emma signed pushing her plate away and rising to leave. "I was hoping something exciting would happen to you."

"Well, something exciting did, although it had nothing to do with the Big Fungus," Angelina confessed as they made their way out of the great hall.

"Oh, what?" Emma asked excitedly.

"On the night, shortly after I sent you the Chocolate Frog card –"

"Oh, thanks by the way."

"Sure, what was I going to do with it, anyways? But as I was saying, on that night just after I had sent Tabby to you, I got a package."

"Ooooh, what was it?"

"It was a diamond necklace, but that wasn't the weird thing. It wasn't addressed – no sign of who sent it, or anything."

She left out the part about the "with love" note. It sounded too corny.

"Oh, you should be careful – it could be cursed. Really, Lena, it might strangle you when you wear it . . . or, or control you . . . or something."

Angelina smiled, Emma was certainly catching on to how the Wizarding world worked.

"That's what I thought originally too. But Twinkle looked over it—she is very skilled in that sort of thing—and she saw nothing. We even tested it on the Ghoul. It's perfectly safe."

Angelina turned to Emma to see if she was as mystified by this turn of events as Angelina was, but the girl was smiling maniacally instead.

"You've got a secret admirer," Emma sang.

"I do not!" Angelina cried indignantly.

"Oh, you don't do you. Why else would someone send an expensive diamond necklace to you?"

"I don't know. That's why I told you. Maybe it's a prank."

"A prank? Where's the punch line. No, it's a secret admirer. I don't know why you're so opposed to the idea. It's rather romantic. I wonder who it could be . . . You don't suppose Snape?"

"Uh, you're joking, right?"

"Well, you are really similar and all."

Angelina gave her an incredulous look.

"He uses second hand books."

"Oh, alright. Maybe not. Still, no one else really _likes_ you."

Emma blushed. "I don't mean it like that."

Angelina shrugged, "I don't really care."

They reached the common room door.

"How do muggles fly," asked the door.

Angelina frowned and glanced over at Emma. "Muggles fly?"

"They fly in airplanes," Emma explained and the door swung open.

"Oh, there you are," Jonathan Clearwaters called as the two girls entered the room. They looked over at him in surprise, wondering what he could want.

"Hello, Jonathan," Angelina greeted primly.

"You should call me Jon, Angelina. I know I've said this a million times."

"Alright. Hello, Jon," Angelina repeated feeling awkward.

He did not seem to feel the same, as he beamed comically down at her as if she had just said something particularly witty.

"I just wanted to invite you, uh and your friend," here he paused slightly as if searching to remember Emma's name, but obviously had no luck as he continued, "to the Ravenclaw Gryffindor game this Sunday."

"Uh, I'm not –" Angelina began, but was cut off by Emma.

"We'd _love_ to go," She beamed at the older Ravenclaw.

Angelina wanted to argue differently, but Emma had gripped her hand and was squeezing it hard.

"I play keeper," Jonathan shared proudly.

"That's nice," Angelina commented, forcing a smile after receiving two hard squeezes from Emma.

"We'll see you there!" Emma called cheerfully over her shoulder as she dragged her mutinous friend up the stairs to the dormitory.

Once inside she turned around and facing Angelina and squealed, "Oh! He's your secret admirer."

"Who? Jonathan?" Angelina's face turned from angry to bemused. "He's 5 years older."

"One can't govern the affairs of the heart. Look at my mum and Chuck. He's at least 20 years older."

"Oh, that's foolish, and anyway who cares about love? It's a silly emotion. One should be governed by the head, not the heart."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I don't feel up to arguing about this right now. Besides, I was going to make you go to the game on Sunday anyways—we haven't gone to one yet. It'll be fun."

So that Sunday, Emma dragged Angelina down to the Great Hall much earlier than Angelina would have otherwise gone. Emma had also insisted upon making a sign which read "Ravenclaw: soaring to great heights."

Angelina took a seat at the edge of the table hoping to avoid contact with Jonathan Clearwater as the Ravenclaw team was still eating breakfast. She had just taken her first sip of tea when someone approached from behind.

"Angelina."

She tensed as she heard the all too familiar voice.

"What do you want Black?"

"Just wanted to see how your holidays went. I enjoyed the present the two of you sent Potter and me by the way. My house elf had to keep his hands bandaged for a week."

"What!" Emma cried. "That was supposed to be for you."

Black smirked, "Glad to here you both care so much about my health, but unfortunately Kreacher is in charge of checking packages for dangerous contents. Trust me, compared to that shrinking hat that sent Dad a couple of years back the bubotuber puss was positively nothing."

Emma still looked like she wanted to cry.

"Don't worry," Black appeased. "It barely hurt him. Kreacher was more upset that he had failed to detect it than anything."

"So it didn't hurt you at all?" Emma wined.

Black laughed. "Oh, don't worry that your hard work went for nothing. Potter wasn't so fortunate. People don't hate his parents. No, it got all over his hands. He hasn't stopped moaning," he said sliding onto the bench next to Emma and across from Angelina. He grabbed a plate and started spooning eggs onto his plate.

"You're not eating _here_," Anglina squeaking in surprise.

"I am. Here you go," He said as he piled a second plate with food and placed it in front of Angelina. "You should eat something. It's the most important meal of the day, you know."

"And _you_ know that I hate breakfast."

"I know, but a little fruit wouldn't hurt and maybe a scone. Come on, I didn't even give you any eggs."

"Why don't you go sit with Potter and try to get _him_ to eat. Leave me alone," Angelina commanded.

"Potter doesn't need me to feed him, arbutum Leviosa," Black said pointing his wand a Angelina's orange sections and levitating one up to float by her mouth, until she grabbed it in irritation from the air.

"Besides," he continued. "He and Pettigrew are . . . sleeping."

A second orange wedge was rising, Angelina snatched it from the air and barked, "I'm quiet capable of feeding myself, Black."

"I'm not doubting your capability, Angelina."

Scowling Angelina twitched her wand and whispered "Leviosa," flicking some eggs off Black's plate and onto his lap. However, whether this would have deteriorated into a food fight, remains a mystery for Jonathan Clearwaters chose that moment to materialize at Angelina's side.

He was beaming down at her.

"I'm glade you came," he smiled at her.

"Uh, yeah," Angelina responded feeling awkward once again, and trailed off into silence before receiving a harsh kick from underneath the table. She glanced in confusion at Emma who was staring at her with an odd intensity and not blinking. Shrugging, Angelina was about to turn back to her scone but noticed Jonathan was still standing next to her looking oddly dazed.

"Well, uh, good luck. Hope you win."

"Thanks, Angelina, I'll see you after the game," he called as he and the rest of the team exited the Great Hall.

"What's wrong with that bloke?" Black asked as he picked up a piece of bacon and started munching on it.

Emma giggled. "He invited Lena to the Quidditch match."

"As I take it, anyone can go to the matches. It's hardly an invites only sort of thing."

"Whatever, maybe it'll be fun. Emma keeps promising me I'll love it."

"_What_! You're _going_ to the game?" Black said incredulously.

"Yes," Angelina shot back.

"But you _hate_ Quidditch."

"She's had a change of heart," Emma defended.

Black was scowling heavily.

"Really?" He said, looking to Angelina for conformation.

"Yep," Emma interrupted cheerfully. "Angelina has become _very_ interested in the game, or more precisely a certain Keeper."

"Emma – that is ridiculous," Angelina spluttered.

"Alright. Maybe a certain Keeper has become interested in you."

"That's preposterous," Angelina argued, turning red.

Suddenly, Black stood, pushing the bench violently back and walked away as the two Ravenclaw girls argued about Angelina's feelings or lack of feelings towards the game of Quiddich and the Ravenclaw Keeper.

Angelina was not speaking to Emma as they made their way down to the stadium.

"Oh, come on Lena. I was only teasing. Don't be such a Pettigrew."

"Speaking of Pettigrew, where do you think he and Potter were this morning."

"Didn't Black say they were in their dormitory?"

"Even if he did, doesn't mean it's true. I think they must have been up to something and Black was there to make sure we stayed in the Great Hall.

"Oh, Lena, you are so paranoid. You're getting worse than Snape."

"What's wrong with Severus?"

"Nothing . . . besides always thinking Potter, Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin are always up to something."

"They usually are."

"Well, the other day, Severus purposed that Lupin was a werewolf."

But before they could discuss the lunacy of this theory, they entered the crowed stadium and spent the next few minutes fighting for two empty seats. Winded and panting slightly, Angelina and Emma finally collapsed into their seats seconds before Abe Aclebe, dressed in referee robes flew out onto the pitch and started the game.

Angelina tried to pick up the subject again, but Emma hushed her quiet.

Quidditch was even more boring than Angelina had expected and pretty soon she was praying for the end. However, halfway through Angelina got all the excitement she could have possibly wanted.

When it happened Ravenclaw was down 0-5, which was a pretty respectable score for Ravenclaw. The Quaffle was on the Ravenclaw side of the pitch, and in Gryffindor possession, and as the Quaffle soared into the goal the afternoon sky burst into color. Fantastic fireworks exploded everywhere, as the commentator's voice which had been a dry monotonous drone of the events of the match, started shouting in excitement.

"It appears some Gryffindor pranksters have decided to let off some steam! And what better way to celebrate their teams triumphant thrashing of the Ravenclaw team than a little House colors," The commentator cried his voice brimming with poorly suppressed mirth. "And what is this!"

The stadium had become transfixed on the fireworks display, even the players where craning their necks to look above them. Another explosion issued out two burning bright figures, a weak eagle pursued by a gigantic lion streamed across the pitch, ending an explosion of red and gold sparks as the lion swallowed the eagle. Upon the explosion a song burst forth from an unidentified source that was impossible to pinpoint as it was soon taken up by the entire Gryffindor section.

"Eagles may be meant to soar,

But lions are meant to score,

With our brave thunderous roar

We'll send eagles flying for the door.

We Gryffindors are strong and brave,

And with ease the Quaffle we do save,

Poor Clearwater is a nice bloke,

But as a Keeper he is a joke.

He is really awful

At saving the Quaffle."

The announcer, clearly a Gryffindor supporter, soon had the whole stadium singing along.

The match continued but the fireworks did not stop. And the match was punctuated with more rude songs, many of which particularly picked on Jonathan Clearwater.

It was after a particularly nasty verse—involving the words Jonathan, pass, and a certain part of human anatomy—that Emma leaned over to Angelina and hissed, "We've got to do something."

"You've got to be kidding me," Angelina said. "Abe would have me in detention for the rest of my life. I just finished serving my last of them."

It was true. Abe Aclebe, who was looking thoroughly put out, had been casting dirty glances at Angelina since the display had begun and she knew he was trying to blame her for it. But even that would be a little too much for Abe, as it was her house the fireworks were bashing.

"Come on, Lena. Please. You know it's the ABOG's," Emma pleaded referring to the Annoying Boys of Gryffindor.

"Alright, but it better be worth it."

Thus Angelina and Emma made their way down underneath the stands of the stadium hoping to at least put an end to the fireworks.

Angelina had a sinking suspicion that she knew who was behind the prank, and if she was right (as she usually was) this would mean Emma and her would be out numbered one to two. Thus as they entered the wooden passageways running under the seats, Angelina pulled out her wand and held it at the ready. Emma followed suit, and so the two girls proceeded down the skeleton of the stands.

It did not take them long to locate the source of the fireworks, and as Angelina had expected there stood four boys: Black, Potter, Lupin, and Pettigrew. The boys did not immediately notice them as they were preparing the next fireworks. Angelina and Emma waited, looking for the right opportunity. Silently the two girls crept forward to listen to the boys' conversation.

"The prat," Black was ranting. "Can you believe it? He's twice her age."

"Come off it, Sirius. He just asked her to the game. He's not even _sitting_ with her. And with these fireworks, I hardly think he is impressing her. I mean . . ."

"I don't think you-"

But before Black could say more Pettigrew was hollering "expelliarmus."

The girls had been spotted. Angelina, caught off guard, just barely managed to block it as she and Emma dodged behind a post.

"It's them," Pettigrew cried, as the three other boys drew their wands.

"Just Angelina and Hope?" Black asked. "Or is Snivellous with them too?"

"Snivellous doesn't like Quiditch. I doubt he'd come," Potter speculated, as the three boys edged closer to their opponents.

They were almost on them, Angelina thought. Glancing at Emma, Angelina nodded. Simultaneously they darted out from behind their post. Angelina shouted 'petrify,' as she fired curses at Black and Lupin. She didn't know what Emma was up to until Lupin fell, hit by a full-body bind curse that Pettigrew had deflected.

However, Angelina and Emma quickly had to go on the defensive, coming back together, they positioned their backs to the post. Angelina concocted a bubble around them blocking the curses raining down on them.

"You fire. I'll hold," Angelina shouted to Emma, concentrating hard on retaining the spell.

Potter was the next to fall. Hungry for the kill, he had ventures too close. Black and Pettigrew, separated by the mound of fireworks, had started to backup heading back together.

Angelina knew that once they did join forces, they too could form a protective barrier – resulting in a stalemate.

"We can't let them meet," Angelina cried.

"You take Black. I'll take Pettigrew."

And with that Angelina dropped the shield and sprinted towards Black. She felt a spell zoom over her head sent from Pettigrew, but soon he was pelting off down the rickety corridor, with Emma in hot pursuit.

"I guess it's just you and me, Angelina."

"Save your breath Black."

"As you wish."

He fired a spell. Angelina threw up a shield.

"Can't get me can you, Black."

"Nope, but you know what I can do," Black smirked, his eyes sparkling with devious delight, and before Angelina knew what he was doing Black was turned his wand from her to the fireworks. They exploded with a bang.

Angelina felt herself thrown back, as the wooden structure around her shattered apart, she and Black tumbled in a cloud of smoke and wood out onto the pitch. Above the fireworks were banging as the crowd yelled, and the commentator's voice boomed: "And Gryffindor catches the snitch! A Gryffindor vic – what is this"

The crown turned its shocked eyes to stare at the mound of debris, from which two first year students were picking themselves out of.

Angelina, scratched, bruised, and coated in soot, struggled out from under the plank of wood to come nose to nose with the red faced of Abe Aclebee whose eyes looked like they were about to burst from their sockets.

"Detention. Both of you!" He barked.


End file.
